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WOMEN'S   EDUCATIONAL  AND   INDUSTRIAL 
UNION,    BOSTON 

DEPARTMENT  OF  RESEARCH 


STUDIES  IN   ECONOMIC  RELATIONS  OF   WOMEN 


LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK,  LONDON,  BOMBAY  and  CALCUTTA 

Volume  I,  Part  1.  Vocations  for  the  Trained  Woman.  Edition 
Exhausted. 

Part  2.  Vocations  for  the  Trained  Woman.  Ag^riculture, 
Social  Service,  Secretarial  Service,  Business  of  Real  Estate. 
1914.  8vo.  Cloth.  Price,  $1.50  «^/.  Postage  extra.  (Weight 
2  lbs.) 

Part  3.  Home  Economics  as  a  Vocation  for  Women.  To 
be  published  by  the  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae  in  1916. 

Volume  II.  Labor  Laws  and  their  Enforcement,  with  Special 
Reference  to  Massachusetts.  1911;  8vo.  Cloth.  Price,  $1.50 
net.     Postage  extra.      ( Weight  3  lbs. ) 

Volume  III.  The  Living  Wage  of  Women  Workers.  A  Study 
of  the  Incomes  and  Expenditures  of  450  Wage-earning  Women 
in  the  City  of  Boston.  1911.  8vo.  Cloth.  Price,  $1.00  »^/. 
Postage  extra.      (Weight  2  lbs. ) 

Volume  V.  Millinery  as  a  Trade  for  Women.  1916.  8vo.  Cloth. 
Price,  $1.50  net.     Postage  extra.      (Weight  2  lbs.) 


WOMEN'S  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION, 

PUBLISHERS, 

264  BOYLSTON  STREET,  BOSTON 

Volume  IV.  Dressmaking  as  a  Trade  for  Women.  Published  by 
United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics.  In  press.  8vo, 
Cloth.     Price,  $0. 80  «^/.     Postage  extra.      (Weight  2  lbs.) 

Volume  VI.  The  Boot  and  Shoe  Industry  in  Massachusetts  as  a 
Vocation  for  Women.  Published  by  United  States  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics.  1915.  8vo.  Cloth.  Price,  $0.80  net. 
Postage  extra.      (Weight  2  lbs.) 

Volume  VII.  Industrial  Home  Work  in  Massachusetts.  In  co- 
operation with  and  published  by  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of 
Statistics  1915.  8vo.  Cloth.  Price,  $0.80  net.  Postage 
extra.      (Weight  2  lbs.) 

Volume  VIII.  The  Public  Schools  and  Women  in  Office  Service. 
Published  by  the  Boston  School  Committee.  1914.  8vo. 
Cloth.     Price,  $0.80  «^/.     Postage  extra.      (Weight  2  lbs.) 

Volume  IX.  Industrial  Efficiency  of  Girls  Trained  in  Massachu- 
setts Trade  Schools.  To  be  published  by  United  States  Bureau 
of  Labor  Statistics. 


WOMENS'  EDUCATIONAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  UNION 

BOSTON 


DEPARTMENT  OF  RESEARCH 


STUDIES   IN 
ECONOMIC  RELATIONS  OF  WOMEN 


VOLUME  VI 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS 

ROYAL  MEEKER,  Commissioner 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES!  (WHOLE    1  QA 

OF    LABOR    STATISTICS/    "   '   '    |  NUMBER    lOU 


BULLETIN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  "I 
BUREAU 


OMEN        IN        INDUSTRY        SERIES:  NO.       7 


THE  BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUS- 
TRY IN  MASSACHUSETTS  AS 
A  VOCATION    FOR   WOMEN 


OCTOBER,  1915 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1915 


HP^^W-r 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Chapter  I . — Purpose  and  methods  of  the  study 5-13 

Present  extent  of  the  industry 6 

Distribution  of  Massachusetts  shoe  towns 6,  7 

Beginning  and  growth  of  the  industry  in  Massachusetts 7-10 

Women  in  the  industry 10, 11 

Methods  of  inquiry 11-13 

Chapter  II. — ^The  shoe  centers  and  the  shoe  workers 14-31 

Lynn  and  the  North  Shore  shoe  towns 14-25 

Women  shoe  workers  in  Lynn 17-19 

Married  women  in  Lynn  shoe  factories 19-22 

Living  conditions  of  women  shoe  workers  in  Lynn 22-25 

Brockton  and  the  Plymouth  County  shoe  towns 25-29 

Women  shoe  workers  in  Brockton 26,  27 

Married  women  in  Brockton  shoe  factories 27-,  28 

Living  conditions  of  shoe  workers  in  Brockton 28,  29  • 

Boston  as  a  shoe  center 29,  30 

Marlboro  and  the  Middlesex  County  shoe  towns 30,  31 

Chapter  III. — Nature  and  conditions  of  women's  work  in  shoe  factories 32-57 

Technical  processes 32-42 

Cutting 33, 34 

Stitching 34-36 

Making  soles  and  heels 36,  37 

Lasting-room  processes 37-39 

Finishing  department 39,  40 

Packing  department 40 

Division  of  work  between  men  and  women 40, 41 

List  of  cliief  teclinical  processes  used  by  women  shoe  workers 41,  42 

Methods  of  learning  the  trade 42-52 

Learning  in  a  trade  school 43-46 

Learning  in  the  shoe  factory 47-52 

Hours  of  labor 52?  53. 

Working  conditions  and  sanitation 53-57 

Chapter  IV. — Wages  of  women  shoe  workers 58-74 

Introduction 58 

Sources  of  information 58, 59 

Wages  and  earnings  as  shown  by  returns  of  manufacturers 59-63 

Wages  as  shown  by  pay  rolls 63,  64 

Classification  of  workers  and  methods  of  payment 64,  65 

Handworkers  and  their  wages 65-67 

Machine  operators  and  their  wages 67-71 

Causes  for  variations  in  earnings 71-74 

329923  ' 


4  CONTENTS. 

•  Page. 

Chapter  V. — ^Annual  earnings  of  women  shoe'  workers 75-92 

Conditions  affecting  earnings 75-87 

Seasonal  fluctuation  in  numbers 75-81 

Instability  of  wage  earners 81-87 

Annual  earnings  of  steady  workers 87-92 

Chapter  VI. — Special  conditions  affecting  the  earnings  and  efiiciency  of  women 

workers  in  shoe  factories 93-102 

Sex  as  affecting  earnings 93-95 

Nationality  as  related  to  industrial  success 95,  96 

Employment  of  minors  as  related  to  women's  earnings  in  shoe  factories. . .  96-98 

Relation  of  women  to  labor  imions 98-102 

Unions  in  Brockton  and  its  vicinity 98,  99 

Unions  in  Lynn  and  its  vicinity 99-102 

Chapter  VII. — Retrospect  and  prospect 103-105 


This  report  is  the  result  of  an  investigation  made  in  the  year 
1911-12  by  Miss  Ruth  Evans,  Miss  Florence  Murphy,  and  Miss 
Abigail  Steere,  fellows  of  the  department  of  research  of  the  Women's 
Educational  and  Industrial  Union,  Boston,  Mass.,  under  the  super- 
vision of  Miss  May  Allinson,  associate  director.  During  the  follow- 
ing year  the  material  collected  was  compiled  and  edited  by  Miss  Lila 
Ver  Planck  North,  assistant  director.  The  entire  work  was  carried 
on  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Susan  M.  Kingsbury,  director  of  the 
department  of  research. 


BULLETIN  OF  THE 
U.  S.  BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS. 

WHOLE  NO.  180.  WASHINGTON.  October,  1915. 

THE  BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  IN  MASSACHUSEHS 
AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN. 

CHAPTER  I.— PURPOSE  AND  METHODS  OF  THE  STUDY. 

The  present  investigation  of  conditions  in  the  Massachusetts  shoe 
industry  was  undertaken  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  first-hand  knowl- 
edge with  regard  to  certain  aspects  of  an  occupation  long  held  to  be 
exceptionally  desirable  for  wage-earning  women.  The  work  of 
women  has  been  so  long  an  important  factor  in  the  evolution  of  shoe- 
making  that  the  industry  has  special  interest  in  connection  with  in- 
quiries as  to  the  advantages  a  long-established  factory  trade  offers  to 
women  at  the  present  time.  The  number  employed  emphasizes  the 
importance  of  the  study.  More  women  work  at  shoemaking  in  Massa- 
chusetts than  at  any  other  factory  trade  except  the  textile  industries. 
The  influence  of  the  shoe-factory  work  upon  women  is  far-reaching 
not  only  in  any  special  community  but  throughout  the  State.  To 
understand  something  of  this  influence  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  brief 
survey  of  the  industry  as  a  whole.  The  causes  behind  certain  of  its 
conditions  are  often  obscure,  but  as  often  powerfully  influential. 
They  lie  in  the  general  organization  of  the  industry,  in  its  methods 
of  production,  and  especially  in  the  variation  found  in  the  character, 
population,  and  social  ideals  of  its  chiet  centers.  Further,  in  the 
inevitable  discussion  of  hours,  work,  and  wages  there  must  not  be 
ignored  the  query  as  to  whether  the  conditions  encountered  by  women 
in  this  occupation  conduce  to  their  moral  and  social  well-being  and 
tend  to  promote  their  fitness  for  their  vocation  as  home  makers  for 
the  State. 

5 


6  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR  STATISTICS. 

PRESENT  EXTENT  OF  THE  INDUSTRY. 

Shoemaking  is  an  industry  of  no  small  or  recent  growth ;  from  its 
humble  beginnings  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  has 
come  to  employ  in  the  United  States,  according  to  the  census  of 
1910,  185,000  people  and  to  show  an  invested  capital  of  nearly 
$200,000,000.^  Massachusetts  alone  employed  in  the  year  1911  an 
average  number  of  80,000  workers,  representing  nearly  half  the  total 
number  for  the  country  at  large.  If  to  these  figures  be  added  those 
for  workers  employed  in  the  closely  allied  boot  and  shoe  stock  and 
shoe  findings  trades  we  have  a  total  of  nearly  90,000.  This  first  place 
as  a  shoe-producing  State  has  been  maintained  by  Massachusetts  for 
nearly  three  hundred  years;  and  throughout  two  of  these  centuries 
women  have  been  closely  connected  with  the  industry. 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  SHOE  TOWNS. 

The  modern  status  of  shoe  manufacturing  in  Massachusetts  acquires 
a  living  interest  if  the  statistics  of  the  industry  are  for  a  time  neg- 
lected and  we  turn  to  a  map  of  the  State  upon  which  all  its  shoe- 
making  towns  are  marked.  As  the  traveler  eastward  from  New  York 
or  Albany  crosses,  at  Springfield,  the  Connecticut  River  and  follows 
through  the  southern  section  of  Worcester  County  the  sinuous  course 
of  the  Boston  &  Albany  Railroad,  shoemaking  towns  are  found  scat- 
tered along  the  main  line  or  on  branches  leading  to  the  north  or  south. 
A  small  cluster  is  located  in  the  narrowed  southern  end  of  Middlesex 
County  up  to  within  about  15  miles  of  Boston.  In  the  thickly  set- 
tled suburban  district  lying  west  and  southwest  of  the  "  Hub,"  shoe 
towns  are  lacking,  but  within  the  area  inclosed  by  a  five-mile  circle 
drawn  from  the  statehouse  as  a  center,  there  are,  besides  Boston  itself, 
five  other  towns  in  which  are  one  or  more  shoe  factories.  The  sea- 
board counties  north  and  south  of  Massachusetts  Bay  constitute,  how- 
ever, the  true  shoe-town  area.  On  the  north  Essex,  Suffolk,  and  the 
eastern  portion  of  Middlesex  counties  are  thickly  dotted  with  shoe- 
manufacturing  cities  and  towns  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Merrimac ; 
on  the  south  a  large  irregular  cluster  straggles  from  the  coast  of 
Norfolk  County  down  through  Plymouth  and  Bristol  counties  to 
reach  its  southern  limit  at  New  Bedford,  more  than  50  miles  from 
Boston.  Outside  of  these  distinctly  marked  areas  a  few  factories  are 
operated  in  five  or  six  widely  separated  towns  situated  in  the  northern 
section  of  the  State,  with  North  Adams  in  the  Berkshire  Hills  at  the 
end  of  the  line.  Not  a  single  shoe  factory  marks  the  course  of  the 
Connecticut  River  through  the  State,  while  the  people  living  in  the 
great  southwestern  section  buy  but  make  no  shoes. 

1  Thirteenth  Census,  Vol.  X,  Manufactures,  p.  697. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN. 


Table 


-SHOE    FACTORIES    AS    DISTRIBUTED    IN    MASSACHUSETTS    TOWNS    AND 
COUNTIES  IN  1911. 

[Based  on  Trade  Directory.] 


County. 

Number  of 
towns  with 
shoe  facto- 
ries. 

Number  of 
factories. 

Essex 

14 
7 
14 
12 
3 
9 
3 
1 
1 
1 

307 

56 

42 

23 

22 

17 

3 

2 

1 

1 

Plymouth    

Middlesex 

Worcester 

Suffolk 

Norfolk 

Bristol                       

Berkshire 

Hampshire                

Franklin 

Total 

65 

474 

BEGINNING  AND  GROWTH  OF  THE  INDUSTRY  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  very  large  number  of  towns  and  factories  noted  in  Table  1  in 
the  four  seaboard  counties,  Essex,  Suffolk,  Norfolk,  and  Plymouth,  is 
directly  related  to  the  historical  beginning  and  growth  of  shoe  manu- 
facturing in  Massachusetts.  The  industry  appears  to  have  begun  in 
Salem,  where  Thomas  Beard  and  Isaac  Eickerman  settled  in  1629, 
coming  on  the  Mayflower  on  her  second  voyage.  They  were  shoe- 
makers by  trade,  and  are  the  earliest  shoemakers  of  record  in  this 
country.  Another  pioneer  shoemaker  was  Philip  Kertland,  who  set- 
tled in  Lynn  in  1636,  and  who  became  so  notably  successful  as  a  pro- 
ducer and  instructor  in  the  trade  that  15  years  later  he  was  largely 
supplying  Boston's  demand  for  shoes,  employing  in  his  home  shop  a 
number  of  journeymen  "  cordwainers,"  as  the  shoemakers  were  then 
termed.  Others  instructed  by  him  took  up  the  work  in  Salem  and 
adjacent  towns.  In  Boston,  meanwhile,  James  Everell  built  up  a 
large  business  in  making  shoes  to  order,  employing  and  teaching  jour- 
neymen for  nearly  50  years.  A  contemporary  in  the  same  trade  was 
William  Copp,  in  North  Boston,  for  whom  is  named  Copp's  Hill. 
The  rapid  growth  in  importance  of  this  distinctive  New  England  in- 
dustry is  shown  by  the  incorporation  by  the  general  court  as  early  as 
1648  of  the  "  Boston  Company  of  Shoemakers." 

Shoemaking  retained  for  100  years  after  its  establishment  in  the 
new  land  the  methods  which  had  been  in  use  for  centuries  in  Europe. 
The  shoemaker  sat  on  his  bench  or  "  seat,"  cut  with  a  knife  the  upper 
and  sole  leather  from  the  hide,  stitched  the  upper  with  awl  and 
waxed  end,  hammered  the  sole  on  a  lapstone,  and  sewed  it  on  by  hand, 
turning  out  a  complete  shoe  with  few  tools  other  than  hammer,  awl, 
and  knife  and  the  wooden  shoulder  stick  with  which  he  finished  the 
edges. 


8  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUKEATJ   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

The  fact  that  shoemaking  was,  after  its  early  itinerant  period, 
carried  en  in  the  home  or  in  a  shop  closely  connected  with  the  home, 
made  it  natural  for  Avomen  to  take  a  share  in  a  process  which  re- 
quired the  needle  and  thread  as  well  as  the  cutting  board  and  the 
knife.  In  the  seaboard  towns  along  the  North  Shore  of  Massachusetts 
women  worked  at  stitching  and  binding  the  shoes  while  their  men 
Avere  out  on  the  fishing  grounds;  and  in  the  long  stormy  days  of 
Avinter  the  whole  family  united  in  finishing  the  ordered  product  or 
preparing  certain  patterns  as  stock. 

The  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  ushered  in  the  begin- 
nings of  the  factory  system.  "  Shoes  being  made  by  the  size,  the 
constant  complaint  was  that  sizes  were  unfairly  marked;  no  two 
shoemakers  had  the  same  measure.  *  *  *  William  Newman,  of 
Stamford,  Conn.,  had  a  measuring  stick  which  he  had  brought  from 
England,  which  it  was  decided  by  the  general  court  was  a  fair 
measure  between  buyer  and  seller,  and  in  1658  this  was  made  the 
standard.  Simple  as  this  would  seem,  it  worked  a  revolution  in  the 
business.  Once  a  standard  of  sizes  was  fixed  upon  individual  orders 
and  measures  were  no  longer  depended  upon  solely,  but  enterprising 
shoemakers  began  to  make  up  a  stock  of  shoes.  By  1700  the  more 
enterprising  had  gathered  groups  of  workmen  around  them  and 
began  what  would  be  fairly  called  the  manufacture  of  boots  and 
shoes.  The  entire  shoe  was  made  under  one  roof,  but  no  longer  by 
one  man."  ^  In  Eandolph,  Abington,  Holbrook,  and  Quincy,  in  the 
Old  Colony ;  in  Lynn,  Salem,  Topsfield,  Georgetown,  and  Haverhill, 
in  Essex  County;  in  Stoneham,  Heading,  and  Marlboro,  in  Middle- 
sex County;  and  in  Milford,  Brookfield,  and  Spencer,  in  Worcester 
County,  shoemakers  hired  a  few  of  their  fellows  and  gathered  them 
into  what  was  then  called  a  shop,  one  cutting  the  leather,  others 
fitting  or  sewing  the  uppers  together,  and  still  others  putting  the 
uppers  and  soles  together,  or  'bottoming'  them,  in  much  the  same 
fashion  as  that  used  when  each  shoemaker  worked  individually. 

"  The  partial  division  of  labor  was  a  success  at  once,  and  soon  the 
uppers  were  sent  out  to  woinen  and  children  to  be  stitched  togethei* 
and  bound.  Little  'eight-by-ten'  shops  were  scattered  all  through 
the  '  South  Shore,'  as  Plymouth  County  was  then  termed,  as  well  as 
through  Essex,  Middlesex,  and  Worcester  counties.  The  shoemaker 
Avith  his  sons,  and  perhaps  a  neighbor,  made  a  '  team '  which  took 
the  fitted  uppers  and  the  understock  from  the  manufacturer  in  ii 
near-by  town  and  bottomed  the  shoes  or  boots.  One  did  the  last- 
ing, another  the  pegging  (the  boys,  and  sometimes  the  girls,  were 
taught  this  branch),  another  the  trimming,  and  still  another  the 
edge  setting;  but  all  was  done  by  hand.  When  the  shoes  were  made 
they  were  taken  to  the  factory,  which,  although  considered  at  that 

1  Ethelbert  Stewart,  Old-Time  Shoemakers,  in  Chicago  Daily  News,  1902. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR  WOMEN.  9 

time  a  wonder,  was  little  larger  than  the  offices  of  some  of  our  modern 
establishments.  Here  they  were  finished,  packed  in  wooden  boxes, 
and  sent  to  the  market."  ^ 

Lynn  soon  became  the  center  of  this  system,  and  sent  out  the 
cut  parts  of  shoes  to  small  shops  throughout  Massachusetts  to  be 
made  up.  In  Lynn  the  cutters  and  other  skilled  workmen  got  60  to 
75  cents  a  day.  The  heels  were  wooden;  the  soles  were  sometimes 
fastened  with  copper  brads  but  usually  were  sewed,  4;he  heavier  ones 
welted,  the  lighter  ones  turned.  By  1754  the  piece  price  had  risen 
to  60  cents  a  pair,  and  wages  by  the  week  were  $3.25.  This  was 
probably  for  the  less  skilled  operatives,  however. 

In  1795  Lynn  had  200  master  shoemakers  and  600  journeymen 
and  apprentices.  Their  combined  output  was  300,000  pairs  of 
women's  shoes  a  year. 

In  the  winter  time,  on  many  of  the  farms  surrounding  shoe  centers, 
shoes  were  bound  and  stitched  by  the  women  at  home  and  lasted 
and  pegged  by  the  men.  All  the  work  was  handwork;  even  the 
wooden  peg,  invented  in  1815 — the  first  machine-made  part  of  the 
shoe — was  driven  by  hand,  the  shoe-pegging  machine  patented  a  few 
years  later  meeting  with  little  patronage.  Many  of  the  shoe  centers, 
stretching  from  Boston  east  through  Middlesex  and  Worcester  coun- 
ties and  south  through  Plymouth  County,  date  from  this  period,  and 
have  been  making  shoes  from  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. An  extraordinary  census  taken  in  Massachusetts  in  1837 
showed  15,366  women  employed  by  establishments  making  boots 
and  shoes,  while  but  14,757  women  were  in  the  cotton  mills.  Few 
of  the  women  shoe  workers  were,  however,  in  the  factory  itself;  their 
work  was  done  at  home. 

When  in  1846  Elias  Howe,  of  Boston,  invented  the  sewing  machine, 
he  doubtless  had  in  mind  relief  for  the  busy  housewife,  but  some 
years  later  his  invention  was  utilized  in  the  shoemaking  shops  for 
the  stitching  of  uppers.  The  various  processes  of  shoemaking  were 
now  for  the  first  time  gathered  under  one  roof,  and  the  "  factory  " 
system  as  applied  to  this  particular  manufacture  was  complete. 
The  heavy  machines  worked  by  foot,  sometimes  by  horsepower, 
could  be  managed  only  by  men.  This  fact  for  a  time  threw  women 
out  of  the  industry,  since  the  work  on  uppers,  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury largely  turned  over  to  them,  was  now  done  in  the  factory  by 
men.  Among  women  long  accustomed  to  depend  on  this  work  as  a 
means  of  supplementing  personal  or  family  income  the  distress  was 
acute  and  was  emphasized  on  the  platform  and  in  the  pulpit  of  the 
time  as  among  the  social  disasters  consequent  on  the  introduction  of 
machinery   into   manufacture.     "Hannah   at  the   window   binding 

1  Wm.  B.  Rice,  One  Hundred  Years  of  American  Commerce,  Vol.  II,  1895. 


10 


BULLETIN   OF   THE  BUEEAU   OF   LABOR  STATISTICS. 


shoes "  was  as  shamefully  underpaid  as  was  her  sister  stitching 
shirts,  but  Hannah  without  shoes  to  bind  was  not  paid  at  all.  With 
the  gradual  perfection  of  the  single-process  system  in  the  factories 
through  progressive  inventions  dividing  and  simplifying  each  step 
in  the  building  of  a  shoe,  women  slowly  regained  a  place  in  the  trade. 
By  the  year  1860  the  stitching  machines  were  universally  attached  to 
power  belts  driven  by  water  or  steam,  and  as  they  no  longer  required 
great  strength  in  manipulation  they  could  be  worked  by  girls  or 
women,  who  would  take  lower  wages  than  men.  Numerous  supple- 
mentary and  preparatory  processes  were  evolved  demanding  little 
skill,  but  nimble  motions;  these  were  taken  from  the  well-paid 
worker  and  turned  over  to  girls  and  untrained  women. 

WOMEN  IN  THE  INDUSTRY. 

The  increase  in  the  percentage  of  women  employed  in  shoe  fac- 
tories throughout  the  United  States  can  be  shown  only  for  recent 
decades  owing  to  the  unspecialized  statistical  methods  formerly  em- 
ployed ;  but  the  last  40  years,  though  showing  no  phenomenal  gain 
in  the  total  number  of  wage  earners  employed,  have  been  marked  by 
a  steady  growth  in  the  proportion  of  women  workers. 

Table  2.— NUMBER  AND  PER  CENT  OF  WAGE  EARNERS  OF  EACH  SEX  IN  THE  SHOE 
INDX^STRY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES,  1880  TO  1910. 


[Source:  Reports  of  the  United  States  Census  Office:  1880,  Vol.  II 

Vol.  X.] 

;  1890,  Vol. 

XI;  1900,  Vol.  IX;  1910, 

Total  num- 
ber. 

Adult  males. 

Adult  females. 

Minors  (under  16). 

Year. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

1880-    - 

111,152 
133,690 
142,922 
211,507 

82,547 
91,406 
91,215 
132,411 

74.3 
68.3 
63.8 
62.6 

25.122 
39,849 
47, 186 
70,457 

22.6 
29.8 
33.0 
33.3 

3,483 
2,435 
4,521 
8,639 

3.1 

1890 

1.8 

1900 

3.2 

1910     . 

4.1 

The  ratios  for  the  same  period  in  Massachusetts  do  not  differ 
materially  from  those  for  the  country  at  large.  In  the  40  years  suc- 
ceeding the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  in  1861  the  gain  in  numbers 
of  women  shoe  workers  was  rapid.  Not  only  in  the  Revolution  but 
in  the  Civil  War  the  Army  shoes  were  made  in  Massachusetts; 
women  compelled  to  eke  out  the  scanty  pay  sent  home  from  the  Army 
stitched  at  the  shoes  destined  for  husbands  and  brothers  in  the  field. 
The  habit  of  working  in  the  shoe  factory  was  not  broken  by  the  close 
of  the  war;  in  1870,  20  per  cent  of  the  shoe  workers  in  Massachu- 
setts were  women  and  girls;  in  1900  this  had  grown  to  nearly  32 
per  cent.  In  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years,  though  there  has  been  a 
large  growth  in  actual  numbers,  the  proportion  of  women  has  shown 
little  increase.  The  subjoined  table  gives  recent  figures  for  the 
proportion  of  women  wage  earners  in  all  branches  of  the  Massachu- 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN. 


11 


setts  shoe  industry  in  1910  and  1911,  and  illustrates  the  comparatively 
slight  changes  from  year  to  year. 

Table  3.— NUMBER  AND  PER  CENT  OF  WAGE  EARNERS  OF  EACH  SEX  IN  MASSACHU- 
SETTS SHOE  INDUSTRY  IN  1910  AND  1911. 


[Source:  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-fifth  and  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Reports 
Statistics  of  Manufactures,  1910  and  1911.] 

on  the 

1910 

1911 

Industry. 

Male. 

Female. 

Total. 

Male. 

Female. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Total. 

Boots  and  shoes 

50,536 
2,931 
2,754 

65.6 
68.0 
73.2 

26.464 
1,378 
1,010 

34.4 
32.0 
26.8 

77,000 
4,309 
3,764 

51,949 
2,932 
2.813 

65.3 
66.7 
73.4 

27,593 
1,461 
1,019 

34.7 
33.3 
26.6 

79,542 

Boot  and  shoe  findings 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock 

4,393 
3,832 

Total 

56,221 

66.1 

28,852 

33.9 

85,073 

57.694 

65.7 

30,073 

34.3 

87,767 

The  above  shows  the  sex  division  of  all  shoe  workers  regardless  of 
age.  Among  the  minors  the  boys  and  girls  are  nearly  equal  in  num- 
ber. An  enumeration  of  wage  earners  employed  December  16,  1911, 
showed  that  of  6,219  under  18  years  of  age,  3,019  were  boys  and  3,200 
girls.^  The  age  and  sex  distribution  of  the  wage  earners  in  boot  and 
shoe  factories  w^as:  Men,  61.3  per  cent;  women,  31.3  per  cent;  boys 
under  18  years  of  age,  3.6  per  cent;  girls  under  18  years  of  age,  3.8 
per  cent.  The  per  cent  of  minors  for  Massachusetts  is  in  excess  of 
that  reported  for  the  whole  country  in  Table  2,  since  the  Massachu- 
setts State  reports  class  as  minors  persons  under  18,  while  the  Federal 
reports  count  only  those  under  16.  The  statistics  for  several  years 
back  show,  in  Massachusetts  as  well  as  in  the  country  at  large,  a  small 
but  increasing  per  cent  of  "young  people"  in  the  shoe  factories. 
Shoemakirg  still  remains,  however,  as  compared  with  nearly  all 
other  factory  trades,  preeminently  a  business  for  adults. 

METHODS  OF  INQUIRY. 

For  the  present  inquiry  there  were  selected  for  special  study  rep- 
resentative groups  of  shoe  workers.  Four  shoe  centers  were  chosen 
for  investigation,  each  distinct  in  its  physical  environment,  its  social 
conditions,  and  its  relation  to  labor  organization.  These  were  Lynn 
and  its  neighbor  towns  of  the  North  Shore,  where  the  industry  is 
organized  into  many  separate  unions;  Brockton  and  its  allied  group 
of  towns  on  the  south,  all  in  the  control  of  one  union ;  Boston,  where 
the  industry  is  conducted  in  a  large  competitive  unorganized  labor 
market;  and  Marlboro  in  Worcester  County  on  the  west,  where,  as 

1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of 
Manufactures,   1911,   p.  86. 


12 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


in  the  adjacent  towns,  the  labor  is  unorganized,  but  the  shoe  factory 
is  the  chief  employer  of  labor.  The  four  localities  selected  employ 
68  per  cent  of  the  wage  earners  of  the  State  and  produce  75  per  cent 
of  the  annual  output  of  pairs  of  shoes.  One  important  center  in  the 
northeast,  comprising  Haverhill,  Newbury  port,  and  several  other 
shoemaking  towns,  is  not  included  in  this  study. 

In  all,  80  factories  w^ere  visited  in  the  four  localities.  For  certain 
of  these  the  weekly  pay  rolls,  giving  the  wages  paid  to  over  4,400 
women  shoe  operatives,  were  copied.  The  majority  o2  the  pay-roll 
records  covered  the  12  months  from  September,  1910,  to  August, 
1911,  inclusive,  but  some  statistics  were  secured  the  following  year, 
covering  the  period  September,  1911,  to  August,  1912,  inclusive. 
The  number  and  location  of  the  factories  from  which  pay-roll  records 
w  ere  obtained  are  shown  in  the  following  table : 


Table  4. 


-DISTRIBUTION  OF  FACTORIES  FROM  WHICH   PAY-ROLL  RECORDS  WERE 

SECURED. 


Place. 

Number 
of  fac- 
tories. 

Number 
of  indi- 
viduals. 

Boston  and  Chelsea             

4 
6 
2 
6 

965 

978 

642 

1,851 

Marlboro                 

Total 

18               4  4.1fi 

' 

In  addition  to  this  pay  rolls  were  obtained  for  157  boy  minors 
and  218  adult  men  workers,  the  pay  rolls  for  the  men  being  obtained 
only  where  the  men  were  employed  at  the  same  tasks  as  women. 

Considerable  variation  was  shown  in  the  percentage  of  women 
wage  earners  in  the  several  groups,  the  Lynn  center  ranking  highest, 
the  Brockton  center  lowest.  The  causes  of  this  variation  will  be 
taken  up  in  discussing  the  special  groups,  but  it  is  proper  to  state 
here  that  the  ratio  for  each  locality  has  been  fairly  constant  for  a 
series  of  years. 

The  value  of  any  partial  data  in  connection  with  an  industrial 
study  is  obviously  dependent  on  its  representative  character.  With 
this  in  mind,  special  care  was  used  to  secure  in  the  factories  studied  a 
variety  of  types,  not  only  as  to  the  kind  and  amount  of  product,  but 
as  to  other  conditions.  Among  the  18  factories  selected  for  special 
inquiry  are  some  employing  exclusively  union  labor ;  others  will  have 
none  of  it;  others  still  admit  union  and  nonunion  workers  alike. 
The  character  of  the  management  ranges  from  a  high  type  of  altru- 
ism to  greedy  commercialism ;  the  systems  of  manufacture  also  vary. 
The  presentation  of  data  is  thus  believed  to  represent  general  con- 
ditions fairly. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTBY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  13 

The  investigators  met  the  usual  difficulty  of  accurately  filling  in 
the  schedules.  The  editor  of  certain  data  obtained  for  the  United 
States  Census  remarks  on  the  unreliability  of  most  statements  made 
by  factory  officials  as  to  number  of  wage  earners  or  amount  of 
earnings.  The  present  inquiry  made  it  clear  that  superintendents  or 
managers  as  a  rule  can  give  only  approximate  figures  on  these  points, 
usually  erring  in  the  direction  of  exaggeration  of  the  numbers  em- 
ployed and  the  wages  paid.  Only  from  the  pay  rolls  of  the  concerns 
could  this  uncertain  information  be  checked  and  accurate  information 
secured  as  to  seasons,  wages,  shifting,  and  other  facts. 

Neither  pay  rolls  nor  managers,  however,  give  much  information 
about  the  physical  conditions  under  which  a  woman  works.  The  size 
and  sanitary  condition  of  the  workroom,  the  adequacy  and  character 
of  the  toilets,  dressing  rooms,  and  lunch  rooms,  were  learned  through 
personal  inspection.  From  these  three  main  sources — the  statements 
of  employers  and  wage  earners,  the  records,  and  the  notes  from 
personal  inspection — was  gained  a  knowledge  fairly  complete  and 
accurate,  so  far  as  the  workers'  direct  connection  with  the  factory 
is  concerned. 

In  addition,  social  information  in  regard  to  the  wage  earners  was 
secured  by  visits  to  300  women  workers  in  their  homes,  visits  made 
in  part  with  the  hope  of  finding  out  the  causes  of  time  out  of  work  or 
of  the  unusually  high  or  low  pay  of  certain  periods  of  employment. 
Of  importance,  too,  was  the  knowledge  gained  of  the  general  char- 
acter of  women  shoe  operatives.  In  some  cases  the  investigator 
learned  much  of  these  matters  and  of  the  real  adequacy  of  the  factory 
wage  as  a  means  of  suppljdng  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  by 
living  in  the  same  households-  with  the  women,  by  hearing  and  shar- 
ing their  casual  talk  of  the  shop  and  its  incidents,  and  by  joining  in 
their  recreation  and  other  interests ;  in  short,  by  being  accepted  as  one 
of  them.  Additional  enlightenment  was  gained  from  meeting  those 
who  touch  closely  the  lives  of  these  women — their  families,  priests, 
ministers,  and  doctors.  From  these  varied  sources  it  is  possible  to 
paint  in  the  background  of  social  conditions  against  which  the  shoe 
operatives  play  their  daily  part  as  producers  and  wage  earners. 


CHAPTER  II.— THE  SHOE  CENTERS  AND  THE  SHOE 

WORKERS. 

LYNN  AND  THE  NORTH  SHORE  SHOE  TOWNS. 

In  any  view  of  the  shoemaking  industry  the  towns  of  the  North 
Shore  of  Massadiusetts  take  the  first  place  in  history  and  in  interest. 
Two  of  the  shoe  towns — Newburyport  and  Haverhill — which  together 
employ  12,500  shoe  operatives,  this  study  must  largely  neglect. 

In  six  of  the  North  Shore  towns — Lynn,  Salem,  Beverly,  Marble- 
head,  Peabody,  and  Danvers — shoemaking  forms  the  dominant  in- 
terest. In  1911  there  were  165  factories  making  the  complete  product, 
with  an  average  of  19,000  operatives ;  in  addition,  cut  stock  and  shoe 
findings  factories  employed  over  3,000,  and  tanning  and  finishing 
leather  about  5,000  more. 

Peabody,  a  growing  town  of  nearly  16,000  people,  has  but  one  shoe 
factory,  but  it  has  three  for  cut  stock ;  while  in  the  tanning  and  finish- 
ing of  leather  it  employs  more  than  4,000  persons.  The  very  small 
per  cent  of  women  workers  in  Peabody  has  not  been  considered  in  this 
study.  Danvers,  with  a  population  of  about  10,000,  has  six  factories, 
with  not  more  than  500  operatives  altogether,  while  Marblehead,  with 
its  dozen  or  more  factories  of  small  output,  employs  an  average  num- 
ber of  750.  These  towns  also  were  not  included  in  the  special  study 
of  the  Lynn  group. 

Of  the  three  main-line  towns,  Salem,  with  its  13  factories,  employs 
about  2,600  workers — twice  as  many  as  Beverly,  with  its  16  factories 
and  1,300  workers.  But  Beverly,  though  diligent  in  making  shoes, 
has  a  large  rival  industry  in  the  United  Shoe  Machinery  Works, 
which  draws  largely  for  its  operatives  on  the  population  of  18,600  at 
its  doors.  A  few  women  and  girls  work  for  the  "  United  "  at  machine 
work.  The  1,260  shoe  operatives  are  for  the  most  part  in  five  or  six 
factories  of  fair  size,  one  of  which  was  selected  for  special  study. 

Of  the  North  Shore  towns  Lynn  is  far  the  largest.  Its  population 
in  1910  was  nearly  90,000 ;  within  30  years  it  had  more  than  doubled, 
and  within  10  years  (1900-1910)  there  was  an  addition  of  nearly 
21,000,  an  increase  of  30  per  cent.  Lynn  is  a  prosperous  city,  mak- 
ing no  pretense  at  beauty,  except  where  it  touches  the  sea  and  the 
long  boot-shaped  promontory  of  Nahant.  Churches  are  numerous, 
but  with  the  exception  of  the  group  of  public  buildings  and  some 
14 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  15 

business  blocks  there  are  few  structures  of  stone  or  brick.     Hasty 
and  cheap  building  has  been  the  rule  since  the  great  fire  of  1889. 

In  1911  the  379  manufacturing  concerns  of  Lynn  employed  a  maxi- 
mum number  of  nearly  32,500  operatives.  The  chief  industries  are 
the  making  of  boots  and  shoes  and  of  electrical  supplies  and  appa- 
ratus, the  former  being  much  the  older  and  as  yet  the  more  important. 
Boot  and  shoe  making  and  the  allied  industries,  the  production  of 
boot  and  shoe  cut  stock  and  findings,  tanning  and  finishing  leather, 
making  lasts,  models  and  patterns,  blacking,  etc.,  claimed  246,  or  65 
per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  industrial  concerns,  and  more  than 
20,000,  or  62  per  cent,  of  all  factory  operatives.  Lynn  is  therefore 
rightly  entitled  to  be  termed  a  shoe  city.  The  boot  and  shoe  factories 
are  for  the  most  part  in  two  large  groups  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city 
on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad  tracks, 
with  a  straggling  line  of  smaller  factories  between.  This  grouping 
has  been  long  maintained,  but  the  recent  tendency  is  to  place  factories 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  in  sections  where  hitlierto  they  have  been 
unknown.  Large  new  factories  are,  however,  rare  in  the  city.  The 
majority  of  shoe  concerns  are  housed  in  old  buildings  of  red  brick, 
crowded  close  together,  some  occupying  a  whole  block,  some  a  single 
floor  or  part  of  a  floor.  Outside  of  this  concentrated  area  the  older 
factories  are  usually  two-story  wooden  buildings  with  a  ground  plan 
that  looks  somewhat  like  an  eccentric  H.  The  few  new  buildings 
are  of  the  usual  modern  five  or  six  story  type,  the  walls  high  studded 
and  nearly  all  window  space. 

The  buildings  of  the  General  Electric  Co.  form  a  large  group  on 
the  southwestern  border  of  the  city,  where  new  streets  are  being 
opened  up  and  hundreds  of  double  or  single  frame  dwelling  houses 
erected  for  the  employees.  In  1912  about  10,000  employees  were 
connected  with  this  industry,  of  whom  1,800  were  women  and  girls. 

Opportunities  for  indoor  recreation  under  responsible  active  di- 
rection are  scanty  in  Lynn.  Few  churches  are  socialized  to  the 
extent  of  providing  relaxation  for  young  people  who  do  not  want 
to  sit  still  all  the  evening  after  confining  work  all  day.  A  visit  to 
the  dance  hall  for  the  workers  whose  energy  outlasts  9  or  10  hours  of 
work  or  to  the  moving-picture  show  for  those  to  whom  passive  recrea- 
tion offers  a  stronger  appeal  are  the  most  common  amusements  of  a 
legitimate  character. 

Dancing  is  as  popular  in  Lynn  as  elsewhere.  Every  night  several 
public  dance  halls  are  open  and  appear  to  be  well  patronized.  Their 
Saturday  night  dances,  at  which  men  under  the  influence  of  drink 
are  often  present,  have  a  bad  reputation,  and  self-respecting  girls 
rarely  attend  them.  Few  shoe  workers  do  much  reading — indeed, 
many  claim  that  the  work  of  the  day  is  too  great  a  strain  upon  the 
eyes  to  permit  reading  in  the  evening,  especially  by  the  wretched 


16  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

light  furnished  in  lodging  houses.  The  librarian  of  the  public 
library  in  Lynn  knows  a  few  women  workers  employed  in  stitching 
rooms  who  have  long  been  great  readers.  One  has  spent  much  time 
on  science  and  social  questions;  another  is  an  authority  on  history 
and  genealogy ;  but  these  are  exceptional  cases. 

The  strength  of  the  women's  club  movement  is  exemplified  in  Lynn 
by  a  large  number  of  organizations.  Their  nominal  aims  range  from 
the  historical  club,  with  a  membership  made  up  from  old  families 
with  "  ancestors,"  to  the  inevitable  dramatic  club,  made  up  of  well-to- 
do  young  people,  but  few  of  these  clubs  influence  in  any  degree  the 
life  of  wage-earning  women,  and  fewer  still  include  them  in  their 
membership.  Church  clubs  and  societies  gather  in  a  few  of  the 
younger  factory  women,  but  mainly  from  families  connected  with  the 
churches.  The  workers  themselves  have  formed  a  few  bowling  clubs, 
which  use  bowling  alleys  under  private  ownership. 

xVs  in  all  towns  near  a  large  port  of  entry,  Lynn's  rapid  increase  in 
numbers  means  a  new  diversity  in  nationality.  For  40  years  the 
main  nonnative  element  has  been  the  Irish.  The  flood  of  French 
Canadian  migration  of  over  20  years  ago  made  its  largest  deposits 
in  the  northern  textile  towns;  nevertheless,  in  1905,  immigrants  from 
Canada  and  the  British  Provinces  of  America  formed  12  per  cent  of 
the  total  population  of  Lynn.  Canadians  now  come  in  fewer  num- 
bers, but  Massachusetts  still  receives  thousands  each  year  from  Nova 
Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward  Island.  These,  as  well 
as  the  diminishing  number  of  foreign-born  Irish  and  the  few  hun- 
dreds from  Great  Britain,  are  for  the  most  part  of  English  tongue 
and  Anglo-Saxon  habits. 

The  non-English-speaking  peoples  forming  the  true  alien  element, 
though  on  the  increase,  are  as  yet  little  more  than  10  per  cent  of  the 
whole  population  of  Lynn  and  about  22  per  cent  of  its  foreign  immi- 
gration. The  ratios  of  the  factors  making  up  this  alien  element  alter 
perceptibly  from  year  to  year.  At  present  the  proportion  of  Scan- 
dinavians and  Canadians  is  diminishing;  the  Greeks,  Italians,  and 
Armenians,  together  with  the  Russian  and  Polish  Jews,  are  on  the 
increase,  and  even  the  Slavs  and  Lithuanians  are  no  longer  so  few 
as  to  be  counted  with  the  "  various."  This  change  in  the  make-up  of 
the  alien  element  is  too  well  known  to  need  comment.  It  is  brought 
forward  in  connection  with  Lynn  only  because  of  its  effect  on  the 
personnel  of  the  shoe  workers. 

In  default  of  recent  official  information  on  the  subject,  several  of 
the  public  schools  in  different  localities  were  vi&ited  and  the  nativity 
of  the  children  in  the  first  three  grades  and  of  their  parents  was 
noted.  In  every  case  about  25  to  33  per  cent  of  the  parents  and  less 
than  10  per  cent  of  the  children  were  foreign  born.  In  St.  Mary's 
Roman  Catholic  parish  school  45  per  cent  of  the  parents  are  foreign 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  17 

born;  the  majority  of  these  are  Irish,  the  rest  Italians,  with  a  sprink- 
ling of  French  Canadians.  The  Greeks  show  the  most  rapid  increase. 
They  have  now  a  Greek  Catholic  church  and  a  school  of  more  than 
90  children.  Before  the  Balkan  War  there  were  200  Greek  families 
and  2,000  Greeks  altogether,  300  of  whom  were  born  in  Turkey.  Of 
these,  1,000  were  unmarried  men  and  300  unmarried  girls.  Of  the 
latter,  200  were  in  shoe  factories  in  Lynn  and  Chelsea.  In  spite  of  all 
these  alien  elements,  Lynn  is  as  yet,  in  contrast  to  many  Massachu- 
setts towns,  distinctly  an  American  city  in  its  population  and  general 
character. 

WOMEN  SHOE  WORKERS  IN  LYNN. 

The  frequency  with  which  the  eye  meets  the  sign  "  Rooms  to  let " 
convinces  a  visitor  that  the  population  of  Lynn  must  be  in  a  state 
of  constant  coming  and  going.  Those  who  come  are  more  than 
those  who  go.  Nevertheless,  there  is  constant  shifting  or  the  "  Rooms 
to  let "  sign  would  not  be  displayed  so  persistently.  Are  women  wage 
earners  among  these  shifters  ?  What  is  their  race  and  condition,  and 
what  are  their  standards  of  living? 

To  answer  these  questions  adequately  for  Lynn  or  elsewhere  would 
require  long  and  close  study  of  the  workers.  The  employers  know 
something,  the  shopkeepers  something  else;  the  churches  Imow  a 
little,  the  schools  a  little  more.  The  census  man  has  gathered  a  few 
facts  and  has  missed  a  great  many.  Even  the  wage  earners,  who 
know  much  about  the  wage,  hours,  and  nature  of  their  work,  have 
scanty  knowledge  of  each  other. 

The  shoe  industry  of  Lynn,  including  cut  stock  and  shoe  findings 
shops,  employed  in  1911  an  average  number  of  about  15,500  opera- 
tives. Of  these  6,000,  or  nearly  40  per  cent,  were  women.  Women 
workers  form  a  higher  proportion  in  the  North  Shore  group,  as  a 
whole,  than  elsewhere.  The  main  reason  for  this  is  doubtless  the  fact 
that  the  product  is  mainly  women's  and  children's  shoes.  There  is 
more  stitching  to  be  done  on  women's  than  on  men's  shoes  and 
the  number  of  supplementary  processes  is  greater.  In  other  towns 
making  a  similar  product  the  proportion  of  women  is  nearly  the 
same,  as  it  is  in  certain  large  isolated  factories,  like  that  of  the  Queen 
Quality  shoe,  in  Jamaica  Plain.  This  average  number,  6,000,  by  lio 
means  represents  the  entire  force  of  women  in  the  factories.  The 
force  continually  changes  and  shifts,  so  that  the  average  number  is 
not  more  than  85  per  cent  of  the  total  number  employed  during  a 
year.  It  is  probable  that  not  less  than  7,500  women  were  connected 
with  the  shoe  factories  in  1911.  With  the  hope  of  gaining  definite 
knowledge  as  to  the  nativity  and  place  of  training  of  these  women,  a 
simple  questionnaire,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  management,  was 
put  through  the  women's  rooms  in  three  large  factories.  Each 
3881°— Bull.  180—15 2 


18 


BULLETIN   OF   THE  BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 


worker  stated  her  birthplace,  the  number  of  years  she  had  lived  in 
Lynn,  and  her  marital  condition. 

The  factories  in  which  these  questionnaires  were  circulated  are  of 
different  types.  Factory  A  is  one  of  the  largest,  and  is  held  to  be 
the  best  in  Lynn  as  to  wage  and  management.  Factory  B  is  also 
large,  but  its  product,  management,  and  therefore  personnel  of  the 
working  force,  are  of  low  grade.  Factory  C  stands  midway  in  con- 
ditions. Taken  together  they  form  a  group  fairly  representative  of 
general  conditions.  The  statements  obtained  as  to  nativity  of  the 
women  are  presented  in  Table  5.  The  native  bom  are  grouped  ac- 
cording to  birthplace  in  Lynn,  other  parts  of  New  England  and  other 
parts  of  the  United  States ;  while  the  foreign  born  are  in  two  groups, 
the  one  of  nativity  in  lands  using  the  English  tongue,  the  other  in 
lands  of  foreign  speech. 


Table  6.— NATIVITY  OF  607  WOMEN  WAGE  EARNERS  IN  THREE  FACTORIES  IN  LYNN. 
[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women.] 


Number  and  per  cent  of  workers  in  specified  factories. 

Place  of  birth. 

Factory  A. 

FactoT  B. 

Factory  C. 

Total. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent  of 
total. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent  of 
total. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent  of 
total. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent  of 
total. 

Native  bom: 

Lynn        

44 
39 
46 

22.0 
19.5 
23.0 

92 

58 
18 

38.6 
24.4 

7.6 

64 
57 
14 

37.9 

33.7 

8.3 

200 
154 

78 

32.9 

other  parts  of  New  England 

other  parts  of  the  United  States. . 

25.4 
12.9 

Total 

129 

64.5 

168 

70.6 

135 

79.9 

432 

71.2 

Foreign  bom: 

Non-English-speaking  lands 

English-speakmg  lands 

48 
23 

24.0 
11.5 

34 
36 

14.3 
15.1 

27 

7 

16.0 
4.1 

109 
66 

17.9 
10.9 

Total 

71 

35.5 

70 

29.4 

34 

20.1 

175 

28.8 

200 

100.0 

238 

100.0 

169 

100.0 

607 

100.0 

A  word  should  be  added  in  connection  with  those  born  in  other 
parts  of  New  England.  The  stream  of  migration  on  the  part  of 
young  men  and  women  from  northern  New  England  farms  and  vil- 
lages to  the  shoe- factory  towns  has  been  supposed  to  be  constant  and 
considerable.  As  to  the  men  no  statistics  are  available,  but  among 
the  women  those  born  in  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont  are 
but  a  handful.  Other  parts  of  Massachusetts  claim  most  of  those  not 
native  to  Lynn,  with  the  greater  number  from  towns  within  a  radius 
of  a  few  miles  from  the  latter. 

Analysis  of  the  foreign-born  element  also  disproves  some  common 
opinions.  English  is  the  native  language  of  by  far  the  greater  num- 
ber. The  Canadians  are  largely  from  Montreal  or  Quebec,  where 
English  as  well  as  French  is  spoken.    Among  the  French  Canadians 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   TOR   WOMEN. 


19 


traits  and  training  differ  from  those  marking  natives  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  or  even  people  of  the  British  Provinces  of  Amer- 
ica, nevertheless  English  speech  and  Anglo-Saxon  customs  have 
shaped  thought  and  habit  even  for  the  French  Canadians.  Many  of 
them  have  been  long  resident  in  the  United  States.  Among  the  truly 
alien  women  a  number  of  "  Russians  "  (Jews)  are  present  in  the  sole- 
leather  and  packing  rooms  of  one  factory,  where  also  a  few  Greeks 
and  "Austrians,"  probably  Slavs,  are  found.  In  the  stitching  rooms 
are  a  few  Italians,  while  Germans,  Scandinavians,  and  central  Eu- 
ropeans are  conspicuously  few.  The  foreign-born  women  doing 
skilled  work  are  largely  natives  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  or  the  British 
Provinces ;  Jewish  women  are  seldom  among  the  skilled  workers. 

Another  point  brought  out  by  the  questionnaire  related  to  the  length 
of  residence  in  Lynn.  The  workers  in  these  three  representative  fac- 
tories, when  not  Lynn  born,  were  for  the  most  part  Lynn  bred.  This 
applies  both  to  native  and  foreign  bom ;  for  the  greatest  number  up- 
bringing and  education  have  been  in  Lynn.  The  proportion  whose 
residence  in  Lynn  has  been  five  years  or  less  is  remarkably  small;  a 
residence  of  five  years  or  over  for  more  than  75  per  cent  and  of  10 
years  or  over  for  nearly  60  per  cent  is  shown  for  those  listed  in 
Table  6. 

Table  6.— LENGTH  OF  RESIDENCE  IN  LYNN  OF  407  WOMEN  NOT  BORN  IN  LYNN  WHO 
WERE  WORKING  IN  THREE  OF  ITS  LARGE  SHOE  FACTORIES. 

[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women,] 


Number  of  years  in  Lynn. 

Number  of 
women. 

I'er  cent 
of  total. 

Less  than  1  year 

lb 
88 
71 
114 
81 
43 

2.4 
21.6 

17.5 
28.0 
19.9 
10.6 

1  year  and  less  than  6  years 

6  years  and  less  than  10  years 

10  years  and  less  than  20  years 

20  years  and  less  than  30  years 

30  years  and  more             

Total                    .... 

407 

100.0 

SUMMARY. 

Less  than  10  years     

169 
238 

41.5 
58.5 

10  years  and  more 

Total 

407 

100.0 

MARRIED    WOMEN    IN    LYNN    SHOE    FACTORIES. 

When  any  large  group  of  women  over  25  years  of  age,  not  vowed 
to  celibacy,  is  under  consideration,  it  is  a  natural  assumption  that 
the  majority  are  married.  The  customary  age  of  marriage  is  fre- 
quently later  in  an  industrial  community  than  elsewhere,  yet  women 
over  25  are  as  a  class  not  affected  by  this.  There  is  a  tendency  to  ac- 
count for  the  many  single  women  aged  25  to  40  in  the  factories  by  the 
old  tradition  of  the  excess  of  women  over  men  in  Massachusetts. 


20  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OP    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

This  excess,  beginning  with  the  days  of  the  California  gold  discovery 
and  greatly  increased  by  the  losses  of  the  Civil  War,  at  one  time  un- 
doubtedly influenced  considerably  the  industrial  distribution  of 
women.  The  disturbed  balance  has,  however,  been  largely  restored 
by  foreign  immigration  which,  though  in  smaller  proportion  than 
seme  years  ago,  still  brings  yearly  more  men  than  women  to  Massa- 
chusetts. Recent  statistics  of  the  population  prove  that  so  far  as 
the  present  proportion  of  the  sexes  is  concerned  there  is  no  reason 
Avhy  marriage  should  not  be  as  frequent  in  Lynn  as  in  any  normal 
community,  and  the  proportion  of  married  women  is,  in  fact,  greater 
than  in  many  New  England  towns.^  The  fact  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  shoe  workers  are  unmarried  women  does  not,  therefore,  mean 
that  there  is  an  undue  proportion  of  single  women  in  the  city ;  rather 
it  indicates  that  the  majority  of  the  women  shoemakers  withdraw 
from  the  industry  when  they  marry. 

Concerning  the  married  women  in  Lynn  shoe  factories,  there  are 
two  commonly  accepted  beliefs:  First,  that  the  proportion  of  such 
workers  as  compared  with  other  shoe  centers  is  abnormally  large; 
and,  second,  that  American  women  are  much  more  inclined  than 
foreign  women  to  remain  in  the  factories  after  marriage  or  to  come 
back  to  them  after  an  interval  of  domesticity.  As  to  the  first  of  these 
beliefs,  the  facts  gathered  in  this  investigation  tended  to  confirm  it. 

In  1905  married  women,  including  in  that  term  widows  and 
divorced  and  deserted  wives,  formed  26.4  per  cent  of  the  total  female 
shoe  workers  of  Massachusetts.^  Among  the  720  female  workers  in 
Lynn  as  to  whom  this  fact  was  learned,  33.1  per  cent  were  married. 
Among  the  workers  themselves  the  belief  in  the  ^unusual  proportion 
of  married  women  in  the  Lynn  factories  is  general,  and  women  who 
have  worked  in  more  distant  shoe  centers,  as  in  Brooklyn,  Rochester, 
and  the  towns  of  the  West,  where  the  employment  of  married  women 
is  said  to  be  unusual,  are  at  a  loss  to  explain  the  contrary  custom  in 
Lynn. 

For  the  second  belief  no  confirmatory  evidence  was  found.  The 
proportion  of  married  women  among  the  female  shoe  workers  of  the 
whole  State  in  1905  was  as  follows :  ^ 

Per  cent  of  native  born  who  are  married 25.  7 

Per  cent  of  foreign  born  who  are  married 29.  3 

Per  cent  of  both  classes  who  are  married 26.  4 

1  Total  population  of  Lynn,  89,336 ;  number  of  males,  44,585,  of  females,  44,751. 
Thirteenth  Census,  Vol.  II,  p.  882.  Proportion  which  unmarried  form  of  female  popula- 
tion, 15  years  or  over  :  Lynn,  33.5  per  cent ;  Brockton,  32.5  per  cent ;  Fall  River,  38.2  per 
cent ;  Brookline,  53.9  per  cent ;  Cambridge,  39.8  per  cent.     Idem,  Vol.  I,  pp.  663-665. 

2  See  Massachusetts  Census  of  1905,  Vol.  II,  pp.  54,  55.  Of  the  female  cotton-mill 
operatives  in  Massachusetts  at  the  same  date  29.3  per  cent  were  married,  widowed,  or 
divorced    (Vol.   II,  p.   69). 

2  Calculated  from  figures  given  in  Massachusetts  Census  of  1905,  Vol.  II,  pp.  54,  55, 
and   187. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN. 


21 


The  figures  gathered  in  this  inA^estigation  showed  the  following 
proportions : 

Table  7.— MARITAL  CONDITION  OF  720  WOMEN  WORKING  IN  THREE  LARGE  SHOE 

FACTORIES  IN   LYNN. 

[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women.] 


Marital  condition. 

Native  born. 

Foreign  bom. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Married 

136 
368 

27.0 
73.0 

102 

114 

47.2 
52.8 

238 

482 

33.1 

Single 

66.9 

Total 

504 

100.0 

216 

100.0 

720 

100.0 

In  these  three  factories,  it  will  be  observed,  the  foreign  born  not 
only  show  a  larger  proportion  than  the  native  born  of  married  work- 
ers, but  this  relative  excess  is  greater  than  it  was  for  the  State  as  a 
whole  in  1905. 

Among  the  English-speaking  women  visited,  Americans  lead  in  the 
proportion  of  married  workers.  They  are  followed  closely  by  the 
natives  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  of  the  British  Provinces  of 
America. 

The  married  woman  with  a  husband  in  the  factory  supplements 
his  earnings  as  frequently  from  choice  as  from  necessity.  The  rent 
for  a  flat  or  a  half  house  near  the  factory  is  high ;  the  whole  house  at 
a  distance  is  inconvenient.  Therefore  it  is  the  habit  of  most  young 
couples  coming  to  Lynn  to  hire  one  room  in  a  lodging  or  boarding 
house.  This,  leaves  the  young  wife  without  sufficient  occupation. 
Her  husband  is  away  all  day;  she  is  perhaps  without  friends.  It 
does  not  take  her  long  to  discover  that  the  factory  will  provide 
friends,  occupation,  and  the  extra  money  for  those  small  comforts 
and  luxuries  she  desires,  but  which  her  husband's  scanty  earnings 
deny.  Again,  those  women  who  have  been  factory  workers  them- 
selves dread  housekeeping,  with  its  hours  of  loneliness  and  its  cares, 
to  which  lack  of  domestic  training  may  make  them  as  unfitted  as 
averse. 

Tw  o  cases  taken  from  the  Lynn  schedules  typify  a  class  of  workers 
by  no  means  confined  to  that  city.  Mrs.  G.  is  a  Maine  woman,  40 
years  old.  She  left  school  at  17  and  was  then  in  the  second  year  of 
the  high  school ;  at  18  she  began  work  in  a  shoe  factory  for  her  own 
support.  At  her  marriage  four  years  later  she  left  the  factory  and 
did  not  return  until  her  only  child  outgrew  babyhood.  She  has  now 
been  working  several  years.  Her  husband  is  in  the  lasting  room  of 
the  same  factor;^  They  are  boarding;  do  not  attend  church;  they 
stay  at  home  evenings  to  rest  and  read.    Both  are  members  in  good 


22  BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

standing  of  a  union.  She  claims  that  her  ay  ages  are  required  to 
help  support  the  family  of  three. 

Mrs.  K.  is  a  native  of  New  Brunswick,  but  has  been  14  years  in 
Lynn.  Her  husband,  to  whom  she  has  been  married  7  years,  is  a 
teamster ;  they  have  no  children.  She  left  school  at  15  years  of  age, 
after  completing  eight  grades,  and  began  shoe  work  at  18.  She  is  a 
vamper,  working  about  9  months  in  the  year.  In  summer  she  and 
her  husband  become  photographers  among  the  lakes  of  Maine.  They 
pay  $4  a  week  for  a  room  and  take  their  meals  out.  They  do  not 
attend  church,  and  their  recreations  are  the  theater,  occasional  read- 
ing, and  the  annual  dance  of  the  Union  Benefit  Association. 

Not  only  in  their  distinctly  American  training,  but  in  their  mature 
age  the  women  shoe  workers  of  Lynn  differ  from  almost  any  other 
feminine  factory  force.  There  are  obvious  reasons  why  the  ranks  in 
the  factories  should  be  filled  with  girls  and  young  unmarried  women 
rather  than  with  those  upon  whom  depend  the  conduct  of  the  home 
and  the  bearing  and  rearing  of  children.  Much  of  the  work  in  the 
shoe  factory  needs,  how^ever,  mature  judgment,  and  offers  what 
seems  an  unusual  reward,  and  thus  attracts  a  class  of  women  who 
stand  almost  alone  among  factory  workers  as  regards  age.  Exact 
figures  on  this  point  are,  however,  difficult  to  obtain.  Only  in  rare 
instances  does  a  factory  record  the  age  of  a  worker,  except  in  the 
case  of  minors;  no  such  record  w^as  found  among  the  factories  visited 
in  Lynn.  Few  women,  unless  highly  skilled,  would  be  taken  on  as 
new^  workers  if  they  appeared  over  40,  yet  there  are  many  women 
much  beyond  that  age  who  have  been  more  or  less  constantly  in  the 
same  factory  for  10,  15,  or  even  20  years.  The  interviews  with  more 
than  100  women  in  their  homes  or  lodging  places,  together  wdth 
observation  in  the  factories  and  the  statements  obtained  from  sev- 
eral hundred  w^omen  as  to  the  length  of  time  spent  in  the  United 
States  or  in  Lynn,  tend  to  show  that  women  from  30  to  50  years  of 
age  form  a  large  proportion  of  the  working  force. 

LIVING    CONDITIONS    OF    WOMEN    SHOE    WORKERS    IN    LYNN. 

Without  a  more  extensive  house  to  house  investigation  than  has 
been  possible  in  this  inquiry,  it  is  hazardous  to  venture  definite  state- 
ments in  regard  to  the  proportion  of  Avomen  attached  to  households 
or  otherwise.  Among  87  women  interviewed  at  home  62  per  cent 
lived  in  homes  of  their  own  or  of  their  parents,  11  per  cent  boarded 
with  relatives,  while  27  per  cent  were  not  attached  to  families,  but 
lived  in  lodging  or  boarding  houses.  These  figures  are  far  too 
scanty  for  generalization,  but  data  gathered  from  various  other 
sources  wxmld  indicate  the  number  of  women  shoe  workers  living  in 
lodging  or  boarding  houses  in  Lynn  as  not  far  from  1,000.  A  num- 
ber of  these  are  married,  husband  and  wife  occupying  one  room; 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTBY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  23 

some  are  widows;  a  few  have  children,  but  the  majority  are  unmar- 
ried girls  and  women  without  home  ties. 

In  nearly  every  quarter  of  Lynn  the  lodging  house  is  prominent, 
but  near  the  railroad  station  and  the  larger  factories  the  "  Kooms  to 
let"  sign  is  seen  in  most  of  the  houses.  The  prices  for  rooms  are 
uniformly  high,  though  the  conditions  vary  greatly.  A  large  four- 
story  lodging  house  near  the  civic  center  contains  143  rooms  let  by 
the  day,  week,  or  month.  The  majority  of  these  rooms  are  of  fair 
size,  some  have  good  light  and  air,  but  the  furniture  is  shabby,  and 
both  rooms  and  furnishings  sorely  need  cleaning.  Each  floor  has 
two  or  three  bathrooms  and  separate  toilets,  fairly  clean,  but  used 
with  no  discrimination  as  to  sex.  The  rooms  are  let,  as  in  a  hotel, 
to  any  applicant,  of  either  sex,  with  no  references  required.  No  re- 
ception room  of  any  kind  is  provided.  Guests,  if  received  at  all, 
must  be  taken  to  the  lodgers'  bedrooms,  where  also  any  social  inter-" 
course  among  the  lodgers  must  take  place,  as  there  is  no  dining  room. 
Prices  here  varied  from  $2.35  per  week  for  a  small  dark  back  room, 
to  $3.50  for  rooms  on  the  front.  Lodging  houses  near  the  station, 
and  therefore  convenient  to  several  large  factories,  showed  similar 
conditions,  though  the  neighborhood  and  rooms  were  inferior.  Con- 
venience of  location,  however,  keeps  up  the  prices,  which  ranged  from 
$2.50  to  $3.50  for  small  rooms  shabbily  furnished  and  with  wretched 
artificial  light.  In  one  house,  somewhat  unfavorably  placed  near 
the  railroad,  conditions  were  excellent.  The  sensible  woman  who 
was  mistress  here  declared  that  as  a  moral  safeguard  no  lodging 
house  should  be  without  a  reception  room,  and  she  does  not  permit 
her  lodgers  to  take  guests  of  an  opposite  sex  to  the  bedrooms.  In 
several  houses  near  two  or  three  of  the  largest  factories  grime,  dreari- 
ness, and  discomfort  were  everywhere  evident,  and  some  were  filthy 
in  the  extreme.  No  reception  room  was  provided  in  any  case ;  women 
lodgers  receive  men  visitors  in  their  bedrooms.  The  rents  for  these 
houses  were  abnormally  high.  The  mistresses  claimed  that  they 
could  not  afford  to  reserve  a  reception  room. 

Restaurants  or  "  mealing  houses  "  are  also  numerous.  The  usual 
price  per  week  for  meals  is  $3  to  $3.50.  The  former  price  is  often 
charged  for  women,  the  latter  for  men.  Thus  for  a  fairly  decent 
room  and  tolerable  food  not  less  than  $5  to  $7  a  week  must  be  paid. 
As  the  price  for  food  can  not  be  cut  down,  women  making  $8  a  week 
or  less  will  try  to  cut  down  on  the  room.  This  is  frequently  done  by 
sharing  a  room  with  another  worker. 

The  foreigners  of  both  sexes  are  usually  members  of  families  or 
of  family  households.  Greek  and  Italian  unmarried  girls  are  care- 
fully guarded.  The  Greek  priest  claims  that  a  lodging  house  for  both 
sexes  would  not  be  tolerated.  The  150  unmarried  Greek  girls  working 
in  Lynn  shoe  factories  live  with  their  own  families  or  with  relatives. 


24  BULLETIN   OF   THE  BUREAU   OF   LABOR  STATISTICS. 

The  customs  of  the  home  country  are  maintained.  Here,  as  there,  a 
Greek  girl  separated  from  her  family  loses  her  chance  to  marry. 

The  social  status  of  the  women  in  shoe  factories  in  Lynn  is 
variously  estimated.  A  recent  investigator  states  on  one  page  of  a 
report  that  women  inevitably  lose  caste  by  working  in  a  shoe  factory ; 
on  the  next  that  America  may  well  take  pride  in  this  class  of  wage 
earners.  If  these  opposing  statements  were  less  inclusive,  both  would 
be  true.  The  American  and  Irish  women  who  filled  the  stitching 
rooms  in  the  years  when  women  were  found  in  no  other  part  of  the 
factory  were  above  the  ordinary  factory  force  in  intelligence,  edu- 
cation, and  standards  of  living.  Few  were  unattached  to  families 
and  fewer  still  continued  to  work  after  marriage,  while  they  mingled 
on  equal  terms  with  the  shopkeeping  or  clerking  classes  of  their  city. 
A  constantly  decreasing  number  of  this  type  now  remains.  The 
usual  view  of  the  social  standing  of  this  class  of  women  is  shown  by 
the  attitude  of  a  prominent  official  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers' 
Union,  who,  a  father  himself,  after  some  hesitation  declared  he 
would  be  willing  to  put  his  daughter  in  a  stitching  room  in  Brockton, 
but  would  on  no  account  do  so  in  Lynn. 

It  is  said  by  social  workers  in  Lynn  that  an  unattached  woman 
coming  to  the  city  to  work  in  a  shoe  factory  has  absolutely  no  hope 
of  making  social  connections  outside  of  the  factory  and  lodging  house 
unless  she  joins  a  church.  A  few  do  this ;  more  who  have  been  church- 
.  goers  in  their  own  home  towns  shrink  from  intruding  upon  a  strange 
congregation.  The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  has  no 
branch  in  the  city.  Its  place  has  been  partly  filled  by  a  Women's 
Reading  and  Rest  Room  established  some  years  ago  by  certain  philan- 
thropic ladies  of  Lynn.  The  quarters  of  this  association  have  recently 
been  transferred  to  an  ample  and  artistically  furnished  house  on 
Broad  Street  near  the  heart  of  the  city.  In  this  home  are  rooms  for 
20  girls,  rented  at  very  moderate  rates.  A  kitchen  and  dining  room 
are  also  provided,  where  girls  from  outside  may  cook  their  own 
lunch  at  noon,  and  may  rest,  read,  or  talk  in  the  pleasant  hall  and 
library.  There  is  a  large  gymnasium,  open  afternoon  and  evening 
for  classes.  These  unusual  advantages  are  enjoyed  by  young  women 
a  good  deal  above  the  shoe  workers  in  social  standing,  mainly 
stenographers  or  members  of  the  office  force  in  shops  or  factories. 
A  machine  operator  or  two  of  a  superior  grade  has  come  in,  but  the 
majority  of  factory  girls  would  feel  out  of  place  in  these  associations. 
The  gymnasium  could  well  enlarge  its  uses  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
lodging-house  girls  everywhere  in  the  neighborhood,  but  to  do  this 
different  forms  of  recreation  would  have  to  be  introduced,  and  for 
this  movement  the  managing  ladies  are  not  yet  ready. 

A  similar  home  designed  especially  for  factory  girls  has  been  es- 
tablished by  the  manager  of  the  Sorosis  factory.    In  this  "  annex  " 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR  WOMEN.  25 

are  rooms  for  10  women,  a  library,  evening  classes  in  sewing  and 
embroidery,  and  a  large  dining  room  where  good  meals  are  served  at 
small  cost.  These  privileges  are  offered  to  club  members  only.  There 
is  no  gymnasium  or  other  place  of  active  recreation. 

BROCKTON  AND  THE  PLYMOUTH  COUNTY  SHOE  TOWNS. 

Brockton  lies  on  a  branch  of  the  New  York  &  New  Haven  Rail- 
road, about  20  miles  south  of  Boston  and  at  an  equal  distance  west 
of  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  It  is  one  of  a  group  of  towns  in 
the  northwest  corner  of  Plymouth  County,  in  all  of  which  the  mak- 
ing of  shoes  is  the  chief  business.  Bridgewater,  Randolph,  Rockland, 
Whitman,  and  North  Abington  all  lie  within  a  10-mile  distance  and 
are  connected  with  Brockton  and  each  other  either  directly  by  rail  or 
by  a  ramification  of  trolley  lines. 

Important  factories  are  located  in  some  of  the  smaller  towns,  but  in 
amount  and  value  of  product  Brockton  not  only  leads  in  the  region 
but  is  a  close  rival  to  Lynn,  so  close  that  in  one  or  two  recent  years 
the  inland  city,  though  now  holding  second  place,  has  actually  run 
ahead  of  the  North  Shore  center  in  its  manufactures.  In  1911  the 
number  of  Brockton  factories  was,  however,  only  32,  against  Lynn's 
117.^  Brockton  is  not  the  home  of  small  plants;  larger  buildings, 
better  equipment,  and  firmly  established  business  are  general  charac- 
teristics of  the  shoe  industry  in  Plymouth  County. 

Of  the  60  or  more  factories  in  Plymouth  County  making  the  com- 
plete shoe  product  32  are  in  Brockton.  In  addition  43  factories  pro- 
duce shoe  and  leather  findings  and  cut  stock.  Foreign  labor  is  largely 
employed  in  these  shops ;  women  form  36  per  cent  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  employees  as  against  the  27  per  cent  in  the  factories  making  a 
complete  product.  Brockton  also  occupies  chief  place  in  Massachu- 
setts in  the  production  of  shoe- factory  tools  and  supplies.  This  in- 
dustry grows  apace,  both  in  Lynn  and  Brockton.  Work  with  leather 
or  for  leather  products  absorbs  the  w^hole  local  industrial  energy. 

Brockton  as  a  city  is  as  frankly  industrial  as  Lynn,  but  its  aspect 
shows  civic  interest  on  the  part  of  its  people  and  a  degree  of  general, 
if  moderate,  prosperity.  Streets  are  uncongested,  public  buildings 
well  placed,  and  homes  well  kept.  Fine  schools,  numerous  churches, 
and  a  library  housing  15,000  volumes,  give  to  the  city  a  true  New- 
England  character.  There  is  little  absenteeism  on  the  part  of  the 
factory  owners,  whose  families  have  in  some  cases  been  in  the  shoe 
business  for  a  century.  The  30  or  more  shoe  factories  are  grouped 
about  the  three  railroad  stations  in  Brockton  proper  and  in  its  north 
and  south  sections,  Montello  and  Campello,  originally  villages  but 
now  a  part  of  the  city.     Streets  in  the  vicinity  of  the  factories  are 

1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of 
Manufactures,  1911,  p.  24. 


26 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUKEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


closely  built,  but  fairly  clean.     The  city  on  the  whole  is  attractive 
as  a  place  of  residence. 

WOMEN   SHOE   WORKERS  IN   BROCKTON. 

Brockton,  according  to  the  Federal  census  of  1910,  is  among  the 
cities  of  Massachusetts  showing  large  increase  in  population.  In 
1910  its  people  numbered  56,878,  an  increase  of  nearly  30  per  cent  in 
10  years.  The  original  American  element  was,  in  accordance  with  the 
condition  in  eastern  Massachusetts  cities  25  years  ago,  modified  mainly 
by  the  Irish.  But  if  at  present  a  factory  superintendent  in  Brockton 
is  questioned  as  to  the  nationality  of  his  Avorking  force,  he  is  apt  to 
reply,  "We  have  everything  but  a  Chinaman."  The  statement  is 
scarcely  an  exaggeration.  About  30  years  ago  French  Canadians 
began  to  arrive,  shortly  followed  by  Swedes.  More  recent  additions 
are  the  southern  European  and  semioriental  people,  with  some  from 
central  Europe,  and  the  inevitable  Russian  and  Polish  Jews.  Eng- 
lish and  Scotch  from  Canada  and  the  British  Provinces  are  less 
numerous  than  in  Lynn.  A  few  Portuguese  are  found,  with  faces 
almost  as  dark  as  those  of  the  Negroes  from  families  who  settled  in 
Plymouth  County  before  the  Civil  War.  Colored  women  work  in 
many  shoe  factories,  but  are  not  distinguished  in  the  subjoined  table 
of  nativity.  This  includes  employees  of  two  large  factories  in  Brock- 
ton. The  Swedes,  at  first  largely  employed  in  shoe  findings  shops, 
have  made  their  way  up  to  the  regular  factories,  where  in  all  the 
skilled  processes  they  are  valued  workers.  Though  their  speech  is 
alien  to  the  American,  their  habits  and  standards  are  not  so.  In 
rapid  assimilation  of  American  habits  they  correspond  to  the  immi- 
grants from  the  British  Provinces  in  Lynn,  and  like  them  are  distinct 
from  the  later  invasion. 

Tables.— NATIVITY  OF  344  WOMEN  WAGE  EARNERS  IN  TWO  FACTORIES  IN  BROCKTON. 
[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women.] 


Number  and  per  cent  of  workers  in  specified  factories. 

Place  of  birth. 

Factory  A. 

Factory  B. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent 
of  total. 

Number. 

Per  cent 
of  total. 

Number. 

Per  cent 
of  total. 

Native  bom: 

Brockton                 

25 

58 

4 

22.9 
63.2 
3.7 

44 

107 

4 

18.7 

45.5 

1.7 

69 
165 

8 

20.0 

Other  parts  of  New  England 

48.0 

Other  parts  of  the  United  States . .' 

2.3 

Total 

87 

79.8 

155 

65.9 

242 

70.3 

Foreign  bom: 

English-speaking  lands 

15 

7 

13.8 
6.4 

32 

48 

13.7 
20.4 

47 
55 

13.7 

Non-English-speaking  lands 

16.0 

Total 

22 

20.2 

80 

34.1 

102 

29.7 

Grand  total     

109 

100.0 

235 

100.0 

344 

100.0 

BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN. 


27 


The  shoe  factory  draws  the  immigrant  to  Brockton,  and  if  he  is 
not  inefficient,  it  keeps  him;  industrial  reasons  seldom  drive  the 
steady  worker  from  this  center.  Length  of  residence  for  some  hun- 
dreds of  women  shoe  workers  not  born  in  Brockton  is  given  in  Table 
9.  Were  a  questionnaire  put  through  the  men's  rooms  it  would  give, 
doubtless,  somewhat  different  results  on  this  point. 


Table   9.— LENGTH    OF    RESIDENCE    IN   BROCKTON    OF   714   WOMEN   NOT   BORN   IN 
BROCKTON  WHO  WERE  WORKING  IN  THREE  OF  ITS  LARGE  SHOE  FACTORIES. 

[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women.] 


Number  of  years  in  Brockton. 


Native  born,  but  not    | 


born  in  Brockton. 


Foreign  born. 


Number.      Per  cent. 


Number.      Per 


Less  than  1  year 

1  year  and  less  than  6  years  . . . 
6  years  and  less  than  10  years  . 
10  years  and  less  than  20  years 
20  years  and  less  than  30  years 
30  years  and  more 

Total 


6 
102 
83 
183 

76 


1.2 
2L1 
17.2 
37.9 
15.8 

6.8 


35 


483 


100.0 


231 


5.2 
30.7 
16.5 
28.6 
15.2 

3.8 


100.0 


MARRIED    WOMEN    IN    BROCKTON    SHOE    FACTORIES. 

Special  inquiry  made  among  850  Tvomen  shoe  workers  showed  that 
nearly  40  per  cent  were  married.  Frequently  husband  and  wife  are 
both  wage  earners,  although  the  work  of  married  women  is  strongly 
disapproved  by  the  better  class.  A  reason  for  it  is  the  desire  to  secure 
an  income  upon  which  both  may  live  and  save  money.  Wages, 
though  high,  are  not  continuous.  That  there  is  much  saving  is 
proved  by  the  line  of  depositors  stretching  down  the  street  from  the 
People's  National  Bank  every  Saturday  night.  Employees  in  shoe 
factories  own  90  per  cent  of  the  houses  in  Brockton.  Children  to 
make  these  households  complete  are  frequently  wanting.  Brock- 
ton's birth  rate  is  the  lowest  in  the  State,  while  the  divorce  rate 
is  the  highest.  The  want  of  the  common  bond  of  children  is  un- 
questionably one  reason  for  the  latter  fact,  but  another  cause  is 
probably  that  a  wife's  support  so  often  stands  ready  for  her  in  the 
factory  when  the  husband's  character  or  conduct  does  not  measure 
up  to  her  standards.  Of  the  children  brought  into  the  courts  80  per 
cent  are  from  homes  where  both  parents  are  daily  out  at  work,  while 
in  the  Brockton  day  nursery  50  per  cent  of  the  babies  have  mothers 
in  the  shoe  factories. 


28 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


Table  10.— MARITAL  CONDITION  OF  853  WOMEN  WORKING  IN  THREE  LARGE  SHOE 

FACTORIES  IN  BROCKTON. 
[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women.] 


Marital  condition. 

Native  bom. 

Foreign  bom. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Nmnber. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Married                         

258 
433 

37.3 
62.7 

73 
89 

45.1 
64.9 

331 
522 

38.8 

61.2 

Total 

e9i 

100.0 

102 

100.0 

853 

100.0 

LIVING    CONDITIONS    OF    SHOE    WORKERS    IN    BROCKTON. 

The  homes  of  Brockton  shoe  workers  are  many  and,  on  the  whole, 
show  good  standards  of  comfort.  Workers  without  homes  often  rent 
rooms  from  resident  families,  but  for  the  majority  of  the  unattached 
the  lodging  house  stands  ready.  The  better  type  of  lodging  house  is 
usually  termed  a  hotel.  One  of  these,  where  rooms  rented  for  from 
$3.50  to  $5  per  week,  showed  excellent  conditions,  among  which  were 
the  provision  of  a  reception  room  and  reading  room.  A  few  shoe 
operators  of  both  sexes  roomed  here,  but  not  many  can  afford  the 
terms.  In  other  houses,  where  prices  were  lower  and  no  reception 
rooms  were  provided,  lodgers  of  both  sexes  received  visitors  in  their 
rooms. 

The  women  shoe  workers,  especially  the  childless,  have  the  reputa- 
tion of  extravagance  in  dress.  The  high  cost  of  necessaries,  the  in- 
dulgence in  luxuries,'  and  the  ignorance  of  economical  expenditure 
combine  to  keep  many  of  the  wage  earners  living  from  hand  to  mouth. 
The  Americans  and  Irish  in  particular  wear  much  finery,  for  w^hich 
they  are  often  in  debt  to  the  credit  clothing  stores.  Prices  charged  at 
these  stores  are  very  high,  but  by  paying  $1  down  a  whole  suit  may  be 
obtained,  which  is  often  worn  out  before  it  is  paid  for.  Superin- 
tendents of  certain  factories  are  greatly  annoyed  by  the  frequency 
with  which  assignments  of  wages  are  served  on  their  employees. 
It  is  the  custom  with  one  large  firm  to  pay  w^ages  before  pay  day, 
charging  a  discount  of  5  per  cent;  sometimes  a  profit  of  $75  a  week 
is  made  by  this  practice. 

Brockton's  winter  recreations  are  largely  limited  to  the  moving- 
picture  show,  with  its  vaudeville  features,  and  to  the  dance  hall.  The 
"  movies  "  are  carefully  censored  by  public  opinion ;  it  is  claimed  the 
pictures  are  of  a  good  class.  There  is  also  one  theater,  with  a  stock 
company.  In  singular  contrast  to  the  propriety  of  these  diversions 
is  the  character  of  the  young  people's  favorite  meeting  place,  the 
dance  hall,  where  lack  of  supervision  has  greatly  lowered  the  moral 
tone.  Homeless  young  girl  workers  are  not  so  numerous  in  Brockton 
as  in  Lynn,  but  they  are  as  little  safeguarded  from  improper  asso- 
ciations and  amusement.  The  Young  Women's  Christian  Association 
does  not  attract  this  special  class,  nor  do  the  churches  make  special 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN. 


29 


provisions  for  them.  Opportunities  for  physical  and  mental  devel- 
opment are  not  offered  to  adults  by  the  public-school  system,  nor  is 
there  a  public  recreation  organization.  Brockton  offers  many  ad- 
vantages to  the  sheltered,  home-loving  woman,  but  few  to  her  sister 
forced  to  an  isolated  life. 


BOSTON  AS  A  SHOE  CENTER. 

In  Boston  proper,  shoemaking  is  no  longer  a  prominent  industry. 
The  few  shops  seem  either  content  with  a  small  output  or  desirous  to 
move  into  outlying  sections.  In  South  Boston  the  number  of  shoe 
factories  is  increasing  by  removals  from  Lynn  and  Brockton,  but  even 
there  other  industries  claim  precedence  in  importance.  Jamaica 
Plain  with  its  5,000  operatives  in  one  factory  is  really  a  shoemaking 
section.  Chelsea's  several  factories  show  a  large  output  of  low-grade 
shoes  for  women  and  children.  The  distribution  of  population  in  these 
special  localities  is  somewhat  different  from  that  of  the  metropolis. 
Americans  and  Irish  in  South  Boston,  East  Boston,  and  Jamaica 
Plain,  and  Jews,  Greeks,  and  Italians  in  Chelsea,  are  the  chief  nation- 
alities. In  Boston  proper  the  proportion  of  women  workers  is  small. 
In  Chelsea,  where  an  average  of  6,436  shoe  operatives  was  reported 
in  1911,  only  about  28  per  cent  are  women  workers,  the  stitching-room 
forces  being  largely  made  up  of  men.  South  Boston  factories  draw 
for  their  partly  skilled  processes  from  a  mixed  and  unstable  com- 
munity, but  their  best-paid  workers  are  still  mainly  American  and 
Irish.  A  description  of  the  character  and  habits  of  these  workers 
would  mean  a  description  of  the  wage  earners  of  all  Boston,  and 
would  not,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  centers,  provide  information 
leading  to  conclusions  of  value  as  to  the  shoe  workers  as  a  class. 

In  Jamaica  Plain,  partly  owing  to  the  policy  of  the  large  factory 
in  employing  workers  living  within  easy  reach  of  their  work,  a  class 
of  stable  resident  employees  has  been  developed.  The  nativity  of  the 
women  in  one  stitching  room  in  this  factory  is  shown  in  Table  11. 

Table  11.— NATIVITY  OF  159  WOMEN  WAGE    EARNERS  IN  A  STITCHING   ROOM  OF  A 

BOSTON  SHOE  FACTORY. 
[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women.] 


Place  of  birth. 

Number. 

Per  cent 
of  total. 

Native  bom: 
Boston 

93 
19 
2 

58.5 

12.0 

1.3 

Other  parts  of  New  England 

Other  parts  of  the  United  States. . 

Total 

114 

71.8 

Foreign  born: 

English-speaking  lands. 

21 

24 

13.2 
15.0 

Non-English-speaking  lands 

Total 

45 

28.2 

Grand  total 

159 

100.0 

30  BULLETIN   OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

All  the  city  opportunities  for  recreation  and  education  are  open 
to  these  shoe  workers  of  Boston ;  this,  with  other  attractions  of  city 
life,  makes  them  reluctant  to  move  away.  They  are,  however,  often 
pushed  out  by  the  high  cost  of  living,  which  is  not  balanced,  as  in 
Lynn,  by  high  wages. 

MARLBORO  AND  THE  MIDDLESEX  COUNTY  SHOE  TOWNS. 

Marlboro  is  25  miles  west  of  Boston,  and  though  reached  by  branches 
of  two  railways,  is  not  on  the  main  line  of  any  railway.  In  the  20 
years  from  1890  to  1910  it  added  less  than  1,000  persons  to  its  popula- 
tion of  13,800,  and  now  numbers  less  than  15,000,  of  whom  over  4,000 
are  shoe  workers.  It  is  a  pleasant,  open,  well-planned  little  town, 
with  a  fine  public  library  and  town  hall,  a  new  and  sightly  high 
school,  and  several  flourishing  factory  industries,  among  which  the 
boot  and  shoe  factories  hold,  as  they  have  since  the  days  of  farm  and 
village  shoemaking,  the  most  conspicuous  place.  The  chief  shoe  plant 
has  four  large  modern  factory  buildings  and  employs  not  far  from 
2,000  operatives,  of  whom  more  than  one-third  are  women.  The 
three  or  four  other  factories  produce  heavy  or  low-grade  shoes  and 
boots  for  men.  Their  operatives  are  often  drawn  from  the  surround- 
ing farms  or  villages,  to  which  also  parts  of  the  work  are  still 
sent  out. 

The  population  of  Marlboro,  until  30  years  ago,  was  almost  ex- 
clusively of  American  stock,  with  a  small  proportion  of  Irish.  Im- 
migration from  Canada  added  hundreds  of  French  Canadians  as 
workers  in  the  growing  factory  industries.  In  1905  these  French 
Canadian  immigrants  numbered  nearly  1,200,  while  the  Irish  were 
900  strong.  The  British  Provinces  contributed  500,  and  Italy  and 
Greece  together  about  250.  The  foreign  element  at  that  date  was 
about  30  per  cent  of  the  population.  The  English-speaking  element 
was  then  and  is  now  far  less  in  proportion  than  it  is  in  Brockton  or 
Lynn.  At  present  the  immigration  of  French  Canadians  has  largely 
ceased;  but  these  alien  settlers  have  become  a  permanent  though 
still  distinct  part  of  the  community. 

A  more  singular  element  in  the  Marlboro  community  is  the  large 
number  of  Greeks,  brought  in  at  the  time  of  a  strike  in  1895.  The 
Greeks  are  now  permanently  settled  in  considerable  numbers;  they 
have  their  families,  and  are  perhaps  a  little  more  clannish  than  the 
French  Canadians.  The  population,  originally  so  distinctively 
American,  is  now,  therefore,  made  up  of  unmixable  elements.  Amer- 
ican and  English  yet  predominate,  but  the  French  Canadians  on 
the  "  Hill "  and  the  Greeks  in  the  "  HoIIoav  "  are  likely  to  remain 
as  long  as  shoes  and  automobile  supplies  are  made  in  Marlboro.  A 
large  number  of  the  women  of  both  races  work  in  the  shoe  factories. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  31 

Exact  statistics  are  not  at  hand  as  to  the  proportion  of  married 
women,  but  the  French  Canadian,  while  governing  his  family  by 
strictly  patriarchal  methods,  is  accustomed  to  permit  his  wife  and 
daughters  to  share  in  its  maintenance.  Married  women  from  Greek 
families  do  no  factor}^  w^ork  as  a  rule. 

The  town  is  a  place  of  homes.  It  has  a  small  number  of  unat- 
tached men,  but  the  problem  of  the  unattached  woman  scarcely  exists. 
The  factories  close  down  on  Saturday  afternoons;  the  factory  girls 
go  home,  put  on  their  finery,  and  walk  the  strests  in  couples  or  take 
a  trolley  to  enjoy  the  gayer  but  still  restricted  diversions  of  South 
Framingham  or  Natick.  The  relation  of  the  more  important  fac- 
tory employers  to  their  workers  is  helpful  and  friendly,  and  as  a 
whole  Marlboro  comes  near  to  meeting  the  possible  ideal  of  a  shoe 
center. 

The  average  earnings  of  shoe  workers  in  Marlboro  are  much  below 
those  of  Lynn,  Brockton,  or  even  Haverhill,  but  this  fact  is  balanced 
by  the  lesser  expense  of  living.  Rents,  food,  even  clothing,  cost  less 
than  in  the  more  easterly  towns.  Doubtless  the  French  trait  of 
thriftiness  has  its  influence  on  expenditure  as  a  whole.  There  is 
almost  no  display  of  wealth  and  as  little  sign  of  real  poverty.  Agur's 
prayer  for  a  subsistence,  neither  poverty  nor  riches,  seems  answered 
for  this  quiet  town. 

In  view  of  what  would  appear  its  attractive  conditions,  it  is  sin- 
gular that  shoe  workers  from  livelier  centers  usually  reject  with 
energy  the  idea  of  removing  to  Middlesex  County.  The  reasons 
seem  to  be  that,  except  in  its  larger  number  of  operatives,  Marlboro 
labor  conditions  are  typical  of  other  Middlesex  County  towns  in 
which  shoe  factories  are  placed.  The  farm  as  well  as  the  village 
population  has  long  been  accustomed  to  finding  work  in  the  factory 
when  farming  flags  or  fails.  In  all  these  towns  the  supply  of  help 
is  more  abundant  than  the  demand ;  the  effect  is  lower  wages  and  less 
shifting  among  the  workers,  who  hold  their  places  with  tenacious 
jealousy  against  newcomers. 


CHAPTER  III.— NATURE  AND  CONDITIONS  OF  WOMEN'S 
WORK  IN  SHOE  FACTORIES. 

TECHNICAL  PROCESSES. 

It  has  been  calculated  that  about  40  separate  pieces,  50  operators, 
and  from  100  to  150  different  processes  are  required  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  modern  shoe  as  it  passes  from  the  hide  in  the  cutting  room 
to  its  tissue-wrapped  completion  in  the  packing  room.  Notwith- 
standing this  minute  division  of  labor,  the  three  main  processes  now 
involved  in  the  actual  manufacture  of  a  shoe  are  the  same  that  have 
been  in  use  since  leather  was  first  fitted  as  a  complete  covering  to  the 
foot.  These  are  the  cutting  out  of  soles  and  tops,  the  sewing  together 
of  the  pieces  of  the  uppers,  and  the  fastening  together  of  the  two 
main  portions. 

With  the  progress  of  civilization  new  standards  govern  the  require- 
ments for  clothing  of  every  sort.  Comfort,  convenience,  and  dura- 
bility are  prime  necessities.  Beauty  of  form  and  finish  are  valuable 
qualities,  as  they  have  always  been,  but  if  they  spell  inutility  and  dis- 
comfort they  now  attract  only  a  minority  of  buyers.  It  is  in  part  the 
endeavor  to  achieve  comfort  and  durability  that  has  multiplied  the 
pieces  in  a  modern  shoe,  and  it  is  the  effort  to  reduce  cost  and  gain 
time  in  production  that  makes  the  number  of  processes  twice  or  thrice 
that  of  the  pieces.  This  modern  differentiation  with  its  multiplica- 
tion of  minor  operations  maintains  the  demand  for  women  and  girls 
as  workers  in  the  shoe  industry.  The  increase  in  numbers,  both 
absolute  and  relative,  of  these  workers  has  been  shown  in  Chapter  I. 
We  have  now  to  consider  their  present  part  in  the  making  of  shoes. 

The  most  convincing  proof  of  the  complexity  of  the  present-day 
shoe  manufacture  is  given  by  a  visit  to  one  of  the  factories  of  the 
modern  type,  where  each  rocm  or  floor  is  distinguished  by  the  chief 
processes  there  carried  on.  These  processes  fall  into  the  following 
main  divisions:  (1)  sole-leather  cutting,  (2)  uppers  cutting,  (3) 
rtitching,  (4)  lasting  or  making,  (5)  finishing.  Sorting  and  pack- 
ing, though  demanding  both  space  and  workers,  are  not  properly 
processes.  The  cutting  of  the  sole-leather  parts,  though  usually  in- 
cluded in  the  work  of  high-grade  factories,  is  often  the  business  of 
special  shops  from  which  the  soles  and  heels  are  bought  in  assorted 
lots  as  required  by  the  shoe  factories.  Certain  minor  parts  of  the 
uppers  are  also  at  times  cut  in  special  factories. 

The  first  step  in  the  production  of  a  shoe  properly  begins  in  the 
main  office,  where  the  orders  from  agents  or  traveling  salesmen  are 
32 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOE   WOMEN.  33 

received.  In  this  office  tags  are  made  out  stating  the  kind  and  qual- 
ity of  shoe  to  be  made  and  the  character  of  each  of  its  parts;  this 
collection  of  tags  constitutes  an  *'  order  "  and  is  sent  to  the  top  of  the 
building,  where  a  clerk  makes  out  long  two-part  tickets,  one  for  the 
sole-leather  room,  the  other  for  the  cutting  room.  Both  parts  con- 
tain detailed  specifications  of  the  operations  to  be  done.  A  ''  top- 
ticket  "  indicating  the  nature  and  the  amount  of  the  order  is  de- 
livered to  the  sorter  at  the  leather  bins,  who  carefully  selects  the 
leather  needed,  attaches  to  it  the  "top-ticket"  and  sends  it  to  the 
cutting  room. 

CUTTING. 

The  cutting  room,  or  upper  leather  department,  is  always  on  the 
top  floor  of  a  factory,  and  in  Massachusetts  the  cutters  proper  are 
invariably  men.  They  are  usually  of  three  classes — the  lining  cutters ; 
the  outside  cutters,  who  cut  quarters,  vamps,  tips,  tops,  etc. ;  and  the 
trimming  cutters,  who  cut  stays,  tongues,  and  other  small  parts  of 
the  shoe.  Frequently  a  dozen  different  pieces  of  leather  must  be  cut 
for  the  shoe  exclusive  of  the  sole  and  heel.  Two  methods  of  cutting 
are  in  use,  the  hand  process  and  the  machine  process;  each  has  its 
warm  advocates  among  factory  managers.  In  each  center  of  manu- 
facture one  or_the  other  type  will  be  found  prevailing — in  Boston, 
machine  cutting;  in  Lynn,  hand  cutting;  while  Brockton,  though 
using  both,  shows  a  growing  preference  for  hand  cutting.  The  qual- 
ity of  the  shoes  is  not  always  indicated  by  choice  of  process ;  Brock- 
ton, for  instance,  produces  high  and  medium  grades  of  men's  shoes, 
while  Lynn  produces  all  grades  of  women's  and  children's  shoes 
in  large  quantities.  In  the  coarser  grades  of  men's  shoes,  however, 
machine  cutting  is  exclusively  used.  Among  the  reasons  governing 
choice  of  method  local  habit  appears  prominently,  as  in  Lynn,  where 
the  number  of  small  factories  does  not  favor  the  introduction  of 
costly  machinery.  But  elsewhere,  not  only  the  cost  of  machines  but 
the  w^aste  of  leather  held  to  accompany  their  use  to  many  managers 
more  than  offsets  the  undoubted  saving  in  time. 

In  machine  cutting  the  hide  is  spread  upon  the  cutting  board  of 
the  machine,  and  upon  it  the  cutter  places  a  die,  namely,  a  steel  form 
with  a  sharp  edge ;  the  end  of  a  heavy  iron  beam  arranged  to  swing 
horizontally  from  left  to  right  is  caused  to  fall  heavily  upon  the 
die  by  the  pressure  of  the  cutter's  foot  upon  a  lever  or  by  the  pulling 
of  a  handle.  Several  thicknesses  of  leather  may  be  cut  at  one  time. 
The  dies  are,  however,  expensive  and  liable  to  injury;  moreover,  since 
in  high-grade  shoes  the  shape  of  the  vamp,  quarter,  etc.,  is  con- 
stantly changing,  the  cost  of  new  forms  is  a  heavy  one.  Where 
fashions,  as  in  low-grade  shoes,  are  more  stable  the  machine  cutter 
is  more  largely  used. 

3881°— Bull.  180—15 ^3 


34  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

In  the  hand-cutting  process  "  patterns  "  take  the  place  of  the  dies. 
They  are  made  of  heavy  cardboard,  edged  with  steel,  and  look  not 
unlike  an  asbestos  table  mat.  The  cutter,  placing  his  various  pat- 
terns upon  the  hide  with  careful  regard  to  the  quality  and  grain  of 
the  leather  and  to  the  most  economical  fitting,  takes  a  short,  sharp- 
edged  and  pointed  knife,  much  like  the  peeling  knife  favored  in  our 
kitchens,  and  cuts  rapidly  and  closely  around  the  edge  of  the  pattern. 

The  cutters  are,  as  a  class,  men  of  mature  years  and  judgment, 
familiar  with  the  quality  and  nature  of  leather.  The  most  serious 
risk  of  waste  is  that  in  the  cutting  room;  leather  is  increasingly 
costly,  and  only  by  the  strictest  economy  in  its  use  is  the  margin  .of 
profit  maintained.  In  some  factories  the  hides  given  out  are  charged 
against  the  cutters,  who  are  in  turn  credited  with  the  number  of 
pieces  they  can  produce.  In  the  best  factories  work  is  paid  for  on  a 
time  basis,  and  speeding  the  cutters  is  discouraged,  as  it  tends  to  waste 
of  leather  and  inequality  in  the  parts. 

Lining  cutting  is  a  less  skilled  process ;  it  is  sometimes  done  by  the 
die  and  hammer,  but  more  frequently  by  the  use  of  patterns.  In 
either  case  20  or  more  thicknesses  are  cut  through  at  once. 

The  cutting-room  processes  are  not  yet  complete,  for  at  one  end  of  the 
long  room  may  be  seated  a  dozen  girls  at  "  skiving  "  machines.  They 
are  shaving  down  on  the  under  side  those  parts  of  the  uppers  which 
will  show  in  a  finished  shoe,  so  that  they  may  be  turned  over  smoothly. 

Why  should  cutting  continue  to  be  so  exclusively  man's  work? 
Long-continued  custom  is  no  doubt  a  weighty  reason.  If  the  retro- 
spect of  shoemaking  be  made  to  cover  centuries  instead  of  decades, 
women  will  appear  to  be  intruders  in  what  has  been  immemorially  a 
man's  craft.  Yet  custom  is  not  all.  The  material  handled  in  the 
cutting  room  is  heavy  and  clumsy,  while  the  manipulation  of  ham- 
mer or  machine  requires  considerable  muscular  force,  which  the  op- 
erator must  exercise  while  standing.  Women  brought  up  in  towns 
will  shun  any  operation  to  which  these  conditions  are  attached. 
There  are  a  few  exceptions.  In  the  West  some  factories  during  a 
strike  period  installed  women  cutters,  who  are  said  to  have  been  re- 
tained under  such  modifications  of  conditions  as  made  the  work  less 
taxing.  It  is  unlikely,  however,  that  this  custom  will  spread.  The 
skiving,  though  suitable  enough  for  women  so  far  as  the  work  itself 
is  concerned,  is  not  always  done  by  girls,  as  in  some  factories  they 
are  considered  out  of  place  in  a  special  men's  room. 

STITCHING. 

On  the  floor  below  the  cutters,  often  the  fourth  or  fifth  from  the 
street,  is  the  women's  particular  department — the  stitching  room.  It 
is  a  place  of  many  intricate  operations.  The  floor  is  closely  occupied 
by  tables  and  machines,  at  which  the  women  stand  or  sit.     The  cut 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  35 

pieces  have  come  down  from  the  floor  above  in  three  classes  of  bundles, 
each  containing  several  dozen  pieces.  Before  the  actual  stitching 
come  several  minor  processes  classed  as  "table  work."  Girls  at  dif- 
ferent tables  black  the  edges  that  will  show  in  the  finished  shoes,  at 
others  rubber  cement  is  rapidly  daubed  upon  the  edges  of  vamps, 
quarters,  etc.,  and  the  cemented  pieces  are  passed  to  a  machine,  by 
which  the  edge  is  turned  over  and  firmly  pressed.  In  many  locali- 
ties old-time  hand  processes  still  survive  at  this  stage,  the  turning 
being  done  by  hand  and  the  pressing  by  the  blows  of  a  hammer. 
The  ornamental  holes  along  the  edge  of  toe  pieces  are  punched  out 
by  a  perforating  machine. 

The  materials  are  now  ready  for  the  actual  stitching.  Each 
process  has  its  own  group  of  machines  at  which  the  operators  do  one 
sort  of  stitching  and  no  other.  The  processes  will  be  given  in  the 
usual  order  of  progress: 

1.  Toe  piece  or  "  tip  "  stitched  to  vamp. 

2.  Ornamental  tip,  if  used,  stitched  on. 

3.  Vamp  joined  at  the  back. 

4.  Quarters  (tops)  seamed  up. 

5.  Top  seam  pressed  open  and  smoothed  by  machine. 

6.  Backstay  stitched  on. 

T.  Eyelet  row — if  the  shoe  is  to  be  laced — stitched  up  and  down,  or 
button  fly  stitched  on. 

8.  Vamp  and  top  stitched  together. 

The  linings,  meanwhile,  at  other  machines  have  gone  through  gen- 
erally similar  processes,  and  are  ready  to  be  joined  or  "closed  on" 
to  the  leather  parts.  The  lining  quarters  already  have  the  inside  top 
band  pasted  on  and  are  now  stitched  to  the  corresponding  piece  of 
leather  with  the  outside  in.  The  pieces  are  carried  to  the  turning 
machine,  Avhere  the  operator  turns  the  pieces  by  hand,  and  consigns 
them  to  the  machine  which  with  a  metal  finger  straightens  the  cor- 
ners and,  seizing  the  turned  tops,  claps  them  together  between  heavy 
metal  plates  and  presses  flat  the  turned  edge,  after  which  a  "top 
stitcher  "  stitches  one  or  two  rows  along  the  top.  The  pieces  are 
now  consigned  to  the  eyeleting  or  the  buttonholing  machine,  both 
intricate  inventions.  The  duplex  eyeleting  machine  will  insert  eye- 
lets in  both  quarters  at  the  same  time ;  the  Reece  buttonhole  machine 
stamps  out  the  buttonhole,  lays  a  cord  around  it,  sews  around  the 
cord  and  through  the  leather,  and  stops  automatically.  The  machine 
is  a  marvel  in  its  speed  and  accuracy,  but  it  is  heavy  and  noisy, 
and  its  delicate  springs  are  liable  to  get  out  of  order,  in  which  case 
it  must  be  repaired  by  the  operator,  w^ho,  if  working  by  the  piece, 
learns  to  detest  the  machine. 

The  final  and  most  difficult  stitching  operation  is  "  vamping,"  or 
joining  the  tops  to  the  vamp.     The  awkward  bulging  top  must  be 


36  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUKEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

fitted  to  the  vamp  with  the  nicety  used  in  fitting  a  collar  to  a  waist, 
seams  must  meet  exactly,  and  fulling  be  carefully  avoided.  "  Flat 
vamping"  is  the  general  method,  but  in  some  factories  the  uppers 
are  placed  over  a  cylinder  which  takes  up  the  bulge  of  the  leather. 
This  method  is  more  fatiguing  to  the  operator,  since  it  requires  sit- 
ting erect  with  elbows  raised  in  a  position  of  some  strain.  Vamping, 
by  either  method,  is  a  highly  skilled  process  and  deserves  its  position 
at  the  head  of  the  stitching  room. 

The  tops,  if  for  a  buttoned  shoe,  then  go  through  a  machine  which 
sews  on  the  buttons.  The  worker  has  only  to  feed  in  the  top  in  the 
proper  place;  the  machine  continually  shakes  a  metal  hopper,  from 
which  the  buttons  pass  along  a  tiny  rail,  always  shank  first,  the  ma- 
chine sews  them  to  the  shoe  and  "  finishes  "  the  space  between. 

The  united  parts  are  now^  properly  termed  uppers.  They  are  taken 
to  tables  for  tying  ends  of  thread,  buttoning,  lacing,  etc.  They  are 
sorted,  tied  in  bundles,  and  passed  to  the  floor  below. 

MAKING  SOLES  AND  HEELS. 

While  the  uppers  have  been  subjected  to  this  series  of  intricate 
operations,  the  soles  and  heels,  if  the  factory  makes  men's  shoes,  are 
being  prepared  in  the  basement  of  the  building.  The  heavy  ma- 
chinery is  more  safely  installed  on  the  solid  ground,  and  the  dirt  and 
debris  inseparable  from  sole-leather  manipulation  are  more  readily 
removed  than  from  the  upper  floors.  Under  the  best  conditions  pos- 
sible the  sole-leather  room  is  an  unpleasant  place  and  under  careless 
management  it  may  be  almost  unbearable;  the  suffocating  odor  of 
hides  and  of  glue,  the  clank  and  grind  of  heavy  machinery,  the  lack 
of  good  air,  and  the  scanty  light  render  it  a  veritable  purgatory, 
shunned  by  workers  of  the  better  sort. 

Soles  are  cut  in  the  rough  out  of  dampened  hides  by  a  heavy 
"  dieing-out  machine,"  and  are  then  passed  to  a  "  rounding  machine," 
which  works  a  little  knife  that  darts  around  the  sole  and  cuts  it  to 
fit  exactly  the  pattern  to  which  it  is  clamped.  A  heavy  rolling  ma- 
chine afterwards  performs  the  beating  of  the  sole  formerly  done  by 
the  shoemaker's  hammer.  The  sole  is  next  fed  into  a  splitting  ma- 
chine, which  reduces  it  to  an  even  thicloiess.  Insoles  are  of  the  same 
thickness  as  outsoles,  but  of  a  lighter  leather.  If  the  shoe  is  to  be  a 
"  Goodyear  welt "  shoe,  the  channeling  of  the  insole  is  done  in  this 
department.  These  heavy  machines  are  all  managed  by  men  stand- 
ing at  their  work. 

The  construction  of  a  heel  is  also  no  simple  process  since  it  is  made 
up  of  a  number  of  parts,  often  of  different  materials:  the  minute  dis- 
tinction of  these  parts  indicates  the  important  place  the  heel  occu- 
pies in  shoe  evolution.     The  layers  or  "lifts"  forming  the  heel  are 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  37 

cut  from  scraps  of  leather  by  a  machine  and  cemented  together  by 
hand.  Heavy  machine  pressure  fixes  the  cement  and  greatly  increases 
the  wearing  quality  of  the  heel.  The  heels  are  left  in  a  rough  state, 
and  the  top  lift  or  bottom  layer  is  not  attached  until  the  shoe  is 
lasted.  Inner  and  outer  soles,  counte^js,  toe  boxing,  and  heels  are 
sorted  and  marked  and  conveyed  to  the  lasting  room. 

LASTING-ROOM  PROCESSES. 

In  this  room  all  parts  of  the  shoes  are  brought  together,  uppers 
from  above,  heels,  soles,  and  counters  from  below,  to  be  sorted  with 
reference  to  putting  together  the  parts  belonging  to  the  same  shoe. 
The  sorting  is  done  by  boys  who  need  only  the  ability  to  read  the  cor- 
responding marks  on  the  leather  pieces.  Girls  and  women  are  some- 
times employed  for  this  "  unskilled  "  or  "  table  "  work,  but  all  actual 
operating  in  the  "  making ''  of  a  shoe  is  done  by  men. 

In  attaching  the  upper  to  the  sole  several  distinct  methods  are  em- 
plo3^ed,  differing  largely  in  accordance  with  the  grade  of  the  shoe  or 
sometimes  with  the  sex  of  its  future  wearer.  The  Goodyear  welt 
process  is  used  in  the  finer  grades  of  men's  and  in  the  medium  grades 
of  women's  shoes;  the  McKay  process  chiefly  in  men's  heavy  shoes; 
the  turned  shoe  process  chiefly  in  the  finest  grades  of  women's  shoes. 

The  first  process  in  the  lasting  room  is  that  of  "  assembling."  The 
assembler  places  the  counter  between  the  lining  and  the  back  part  of 
the  vamp,  as  a  stiffening;  puts  the  "boxing"  in  the  toe,  tacks  the 
insole  to  a  wooden  last,  places  the  upper  above  it,  and  thrusts  the 
whole  into  the  clutches  of  a  machine  that  pulls  the  back  of  the  upper 
down  over  the  heel  seat  and  tacks  it  securely.  A  second  operator  with 
his  "  pulling  over  "  machine  does  a  similar  service  for  the  toe  and  tha 
sides.  The  shoe  is  now  consigned  to  the  lasting  machine.  By  this 
wonderful  contrivance  a  pincer  travels  around  the  edge  of  the  sole 
drawing  the  upper  into  place  and  driving  a  tack  part  way  in  at  each 
pull,  so  that  every  part  of  the  upper  is  stretched  in  all  directions 
equalW.  A  second  machine  pays  special  attention  to  toes  and  heels, 
bringing  the  leather  smoothly  around  the  toe  and  fastening  it  in  place 
by  a  tape  or  wire.  By  another,  surplus  leather  is  trimmed  away  and 
the  vamp  pounded  to  make  it  lie  close  to  the  last. 

The  lasted  shoe,  when  ready  for  further  treatment,  is  turned  over 
to  the  "  tack  setter,"  who  pulls  out  the  tacks,  leaving  a  few  only  to 
hold  it  in  place;  the  insole  is  then  wet  and  the  shoe  is  ready  for 
Goodyear  welting. 

This  process  adds  greatly  both  to  the  comfort  and  the  durability 
of  the  shoe.  The  insole  has  been  previously  prepared  by  the  "  chan- 
neler,"  a  small  machine  that  cuts  a  half  inch  slit  along  the  edge  of 
the  insole  inward,  making  a  "lip,"  which  the  "turning  machine" 


38  BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

turns  up  at  right  angles  from  the  insole  to  be  out  of  the  path  of  the 
needle.  The  shoe,  with  the  moistened  insole  uppermost,  is  placed  in 
a  machine  and  a  narrow  strip  of  sole  leather,  called  the  welt,  is  fed 
from  the  machine  and  guided  from  the  "  heel  seat "  around  the  shoe 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  project  from  the  upper,  while  a  curved  needle 
sews  through  welt,  upper,  and  the  "  channel  lip  "  of  the  insole  with  a 
stout,  waxed  linen  thread.  The  portion  of  the  insole  standing  up 
inside  of  the  shoe  is  later  cemented  down  to  cover  the  stitching. 
The  addition  of  the  welt  has  left  a  hollow  space  along  the  hall  of 
the  shoe;  this  must  be  filled  in.  In  shoes  of  good  quality  the  filling 
used  is  a  mixture  of  ground  cork  and  cement,  plastered  on  the  sole, 
which  is  passed  over  a  hot  roller  until  perfectly  smooth. 

It  seems  incredible  that  the  attaching  of  the  outsole  should  require 
a  score  of  separate  machines,  but  such  in  a  machine-dominated  fac 
tory  is  the  case.  A  "  cementing  machine  "  smears  a  layer  of  cement 
over  the  welt,  places  the  wet  outsole  upon  the  bottom  of  the  shoe,  and 
fastens  it  with  a  single  tack.  A  "  sole-laying  machine "  next  by 
heavy  pressure  fits  the  sole  closely  to  the  last.  An  operator  with 
his  "rough-rounding  machine"  trims  the  edges  of  the  outsole  and 
slits  its  edge.  The  "  channel-opening  machine  "  turns  up  the  lip,  and 
only  now  is  the  outsole  ready  to  be  stitched.  The  "  outsole  lock-stitch 
machine  "  unites  the  sole  and  welt  with  a  lock  stitch  of  great  strength, 
sewing  through  an  inch  of  leather  without  the  slightest  difficulty, 
the  stitch  extending  from  the  channel  of  the  outsole  through  the 
upper  side  of  the  welt,  where  it  shows  in  the  finished  shoe. 

The  outsole  is  now  consigned  to  the  "loose-nailing  machine," 
which  drives  nails  at  the  rate  of  350  a  minute  through  the  heel  seat 
and  clinches  them  against  the  steel  plate  of  the  last.  The  edge  of 
the  outsole  around  the  heel  is  trimmed  by  the  "  heel-seat  pounding 
machine  "  and  the  whole  sole  rolled  back  and  forth  from  side  to  side 
on  the  "  automatic  sole-leveling  machine "  to  secure  the  result  for- 
merly obtained  by  the  shoemaker  with  his  lapstone. 

The  McKay  process  of  attaching  the  sole  is  used  in  cheaper  and 
heavier  grades  of  shoes.  No  welt  is  used,  nor  is  the  insole  chan- 
neled; the  McKay  machine  sews  the  outsole,  upper,  and  insole  to- 
gether at  once,  through  the  groove,  and  the  lip  of  the  outer  sole  is 
afterwards  firmly  cemented  over  the  stitching,  leaving  no  ridge. 

In  a  "  turned  shoe  "  the  lasting  process  differs  materially  from  the 
two  preceding;  it  is  used  exclusively  in  making  women's  fine  shoes 
and  slippers.  There  is  but  one  sole,  and  that  of  fine,  flexible  leather. 
This  is  channeled,  fastened  to  the  last,  the  upper,  turned  inside  out, 
is  placed  on  the  last  and  is  tacked  to  the  sole  by  a  hand  1  aster.  The 
upper  is  sewxd  to  the  sole  through  the  channel,  leaving  the  heel  part 
loose,  and  the  shoe  taken  from  the  last  and  turned  inside  out  by  a 
singular  machine  operation.    No  process  so  far  discovered  produces 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR  WOMEN.  39 

a  flexibility  comparable  to  that  of  the  turned  shoe.  The  lightness  of 
the  material  and  delicacy  of  the  work,  now,  as  in  early  days  of  the 
industry,  demand  women  workers  for  many  of  the  operations  in  a 
turned  shoe.  The  lasting  proper,  however,  is  in  many  Lynn  shops 
done  by  leather-aproned  men  in  the  old  fashion  with  awl  and  waxed 
thread. 

The  heel  to  be  attached  is  in  a  rough  state  when  it  arrives  in  the 
lasting  room ;  it  is  first  trimmed  by  machine,  the  breast  is  cut  across 
to  the  desired  slant,  and  the  edges  of  the  heel  scoured.  The  heel  may 
now  be  fastened  to  the  shoe,  for  which  process  a  variety  of  ma- 
chines are  in  use.  One  of  the  latest  both  feeds  and  fastens  the  nails, 
and  is  operated  by  a  man  and  a  boy.  It  turns  off  work  with  great 
speed,  leaving  the  nails  slightly  protruding  above  the  heel.  The 
top  lift  is  next  pressed  into  position  over  these  nails,  and  the  heel 
goes  to  the  "universal  slugging  machine."  This  is  devised  to  cut 
the  "  slugs  "  or  small  ornamental  outside  nails  from  a  coil  of  wire  and 
drive  them  into  the  heel  where  they  show  in  the  top  lift.  The  lasting 
or  making  has  been,  until  recently,  given  over  to  men  as  exclusively 
as  the  cutting.  Yet  in  passing  through  the  factories  there  will  occa- 
sionally be  seen  a  group  of  young  women  doing  "  assembling."  It  is 
a  process  better  done  by  nimble  fingers  and  too  simple  to  be  paid  at 
men's  rates.  Girls  do  it  more  accurately  than  young  boys,  and  as 
men  will  not  take  the  low  pay  girls  are  often  employed.  Assembling, 
as  is  the  case  with  skiving,  is  unsuitable  for  girls  only  because  of  its 
being  done  in  the  "  men's  room." 

As  to  the  other  work  in  the  lasting  room,  there  is  no  question  of  its 
unfitness  for  women.  Most  of  the  operations  must  be  done  standing ; 
the  foot  is  frequently  used  in  the  manipulation  of  the  machine;  the 
muscles  of  arms  and  back  are  subjected  to  constant  strain.  Even 
men  of  slender  build  dislike  lasting-room  work. 

The  processes  described  above  take  place  in  the  lasting  rooms  of 
most  large  factories  and  especially  those  where  heavier  shoes  are 
made.  Many  firms  producing  women's  shoes,  especially  in  Lynn,  by 
preference  or  compulsion  still  employ  hand  lasting.  The  hand 
laster,  who  uses  strong  pincers  to  pull  the  leather  down  over  the 
form,  must  have  knowledge  of  the  way  leather  stretches,  must  exert 
strength  in  his  pull,  and  exercise  care  to  make  his  successive  pulls 
equal  in  value.  All  this  takes  much  time  and  demands  high  pay, 
notwithstanding  which  facts  hand  lasting  is  preferred  for  fine  or 
delicate  shoes. 

FINISHING    DEPARTMENT. 

To  this  room  are  conveyed  the  shoes,  now  complete  so  far  as  con- 
cerns the  joining  of  parts,  but  demanding  various  operations  before 
being  absolutely  finished.  Heel  slugs  must  be  ground  down,  heels 
and  soles  buffed  or  scoured,  stained  or  blacked,  brushed  and  polished. 


40  BULLETIIT   OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

the  trade-mark  stamped  on,  and  the  shoe  finally  passed  to  a  boy  or 
girl  "  tack  feeler  "  who  examines  its  interior  for  lurking  tacks.  A 
lining  is  also  put  inside  the  shoe,  covering  in  some  cases  the  heel  only. 
After  a  final  inspection  to  see  that  each  shoe  is  properly  nailed,  the 
pairs  are  sent  to  the  packing  department. 

PACKING  DEPARTMENT. 

In  the  packing  room  the  product  has  its  final  handling;  various 
treatments  must  be  applied  before  the  shoes  are  actually  ready  for 
packing.  The  shoe  is  placed  on  a  "tree"  or  form  like  the  last  on 
which  it  was  made;  stain  and  dirt  are  removed  and  repairs  made 
where  certain  imperfections  are  found.  Hand  operators  "rag"  or 
wipe  clean  the  edges  and  heels  and  lace  the  shoes  having  eyelets.  An 
inspector  examines  each  pair,  throws  out  the  imperfect,  and  makes  a 
record  of  them.  At  the  packing  tables  the  shoes  are  carefully  mated, 
wr>apped,  and  placed  in  paper  cartons  to  be  sent  to  the  men  packers, 
who  fill  and  fasten  the  wooden  cases  of  shoes  for  shipment.  In  large 
factories  treeing,  dressing,  and  packing  may  be  done  in  different 
rooms;  in  the  smaller  ones  the  finishing  and  packing  departments 
occupy  one  room.  In  both  departments  the  majority  of  Avorkers  are 
women. 

Such,  in  general,  are  the  processes  used  in  the  production  of  a  shoe. 
Some  minor  operations  are  omitted  in  this  description  and  it  should 
also  be  said  that,  in  comparing  factory  with  factory,  differences  in 
certain  processes  as  well  as  in  the  order  of  their  use  will  be  found, 
differences  due  not  only  to  local  custom  and  to  the  quality  of  the 
product,  but  to  individual  preference  or  initiative. 

DIVISION    OF    WORK    BETWEEN    MEN    AND    WOMEN. 

A  review  of  the  various  departments  and  operations  in  shoe  fac- 
tories confirms  in  general  the  statements  of  economists  that  men  and 
women  do  not  often  work  in  competition  in  the  same  industry.  Occu- 
pations are  apt  to  be  assigned  to  one  sex  or  the  other,  and  even  when 
l3oth  work  nominally  at  the  same  occupation  there  is  apt  to  be  a  dif- 
ference in  the  kind  of  work  done  or  the  methods  employed.  But 
w^hile  in  the  past  this  has  been  generally  true  in  the  shoe  trade,  grad- 
ual changes  are  now  making  particular  exceptions  which  later  may 
confirm  the  principle  of  noncompetition  in  a  new  way.  The  stitch- 
ing room  for  half  a  century  has  been  termed  the  women's  room,  but 
the  high  prices  now  paid  for  expert  work  at  the  machines,  together 
with  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  skilled  women  workers,  has  brought 
men  invaders  into  this  department,  while  a  reversal  of  conditions  is 
shown  by  the  presence  of  women  and  girls  in  the  sole-leather  room. 
The  influx  of  foreign  labor  opens  the  way  to  these  changes.    The  in- 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTKY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  41 

trodiiction  of  unskilled  and  disagreeable  preparatory  processes,  for 
which  the  factory  desires  to  pay  as  little  as  possible,  brings  into  the 
foul-smelling  basement  of  the  factory  foreign  women  who  will  work 
for  small  pay  under  conditions  that  repel  the  native  or  naturalized 
classes.  However,  the  majority  of  women  workers,  as  has  been  stated, 
are  in  the  stitching  room,  a  smaller  number  in  the  finishing  and  pack- 
ing room,  while  in  every  room  "  table  work  "  is  done  by  women  and 
minors.  Outside  of  these  occupations  men  perform  all  important 
operations  in  the  factory,  and  are  the  foremen,  managers,  etc.  Massa- 
chusetts women  have  not  yet  "  broken  into  "  the  cutting  rooms  except 
for  skiving,  which  process  is,  however,  frequently  done  in  the  stitch- 
ing room.  The  packing-room  work,  formerly  done  by  men,  is  now 
almost  completely  in  the  hands  of  women.  Women  are  also  found 
in  the  lasting  room  at  "  assembling  "  machines,  and  also  doing  the 
eyeleting,  buttonhole  making,  etc. 

In  the  stitching  room,  vamping,  usually  the  best-paid  process,  is 
now  frequently  done  by  young  foreign  Jews  or  youths  from  South- 
ern Europe.  The  managers  claim  that  they  hold  out  longer  than 
women  on  heavy  Avork,  especially  cylinder  vamping.  Also,  the  law 
permits  them  to  work  longer  hours  than  women,  and  in  a  rush  season 
this  is  an  advantage  to  the  employer. 

Shoemaking  is  peculiarly  a  matter  of  individual  activity,  and  the 
operations  in  which  a  helper  is  required  are  so  few  as  to  be  negligible. 
Close  supervision  of  learners,  therefore,  is  impossible,  and  for  this 
reason,  and  because  most  of  the  operations  are  highly  skilled,  the 
number  of  minors  employed  is  relatively  small.  Both  boys  and  girls 
are  used  for  unskilled  handwork  at  the  tables  and  for  "  floor  work," — 
that  is,  carrying  materials,  running  errands,  etc.  In  the  stitching 
room  girls  under  18  are  occasionally  found  at  the  simpler  machines, 
but  only  by  special  brief  privilege  does  a  minor  work  on  an  important 
machine.  In  the  finishing  room  boys  and  girls  are  frequently  em- 
ployed for  small  operations,  as  they  are  also  in  the  packing  room. 
It  is  not  uncommon,  however,  to  find  factories  where  no  minors  are 
employed.  The  nonemployment  of  minors  in  the  actual  processes 
surely  indicates  the  fact  that  shoemaking  is  a  skilled  trade  and  that 
at  present  the  machinery  in  use  can  not,  as  in  a  cotton  mill,  do  away 
with  dexterity  and  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  operator. 

LIST    OF    CHIEF    TECHNICAL    PROCESSES    IN    SHOE    MANUFACTURING    IN    WHICH 

WOMEN    ARE    EMPLOYED. 

[H.,  Hand  process;  M,,  machine  process.] 

Assembling  (H.). — Tacking  insole  to  last,  placing  box  and  counter  in  position, 
and  putting  upper  on  the  last. 

Backstaying  (M.). — Stitching  narrow  leather  strips  over  back  seams. 

Barring  (M,). — Making  short  rows  of  stitching  across  bottom  of  upper 
opening. 


42  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

Buttonholing  (M.). — Making  buttonholes  by  macliine. 

Buttoning  (M.). — Putting  buttons  on  by  machine. 

Cementing  (H.). — Applying  cement  to  the  various  parts  to  hold  them  together 
before  stitching. 

Closing  (M.). — Putting  two  or  more  parts  together. 

Closing  on  (M.). — Stitching  lining  and  outside  together. 

Crippling  (H.). — Repairing  imperfections. 

Eyeleting  (M.). — Putting  in  the  eyelets  with  machine. 

Folding  (H.  or  M.). — Turning  edges  to  be  stitched. 

Lacing  (H.). — Running  laces  in  shoes. 

Making  linings  (M.). — Stitching  back  seam,  sides,  and  top  of  linings. 

McKay  sewing  (M.). — Sewing  through  both  soles  and  upper  so  that  sewing 
appears  inside  of  shoe. 

Packing  (H.). — Placing  a  pair  of  shoes  in  a  carton. 

Perforating  (M.). — Punching  ornamental  holes  in  tips. 

Pressing  (M.). — Using  a  "  flat  press  "  on  heels  and  soles  to  make  parts  adhere. 

Ragging  (H.). — Cleaning  completed  shoes. 

Repairing  (H.). — Filling  cracks  in  patent  leather. 

Skiving  (M.). — Shaving  leather  to  desired  thickness  in  all  parts. 

Stamping  (H.  or  M.). — Marking  size  and  width  on  the  inside  of  the  shoe  or 
marking  parts  of  uppers  that  are  to  go  together. 

Staying  (M.). — Putting  on  heel  or  other  stays. 

Table  icork  (H.). — Matching  parts,  tying  threads,  trimming,  pasting,  etc. 

Tip  fixing  (H.). — Repairing  patent-leather  tips. 

Tongue  stitching  (M.). — Sewing  tongue  in  vamps. 

Top  stitching  (M.). — Stitching  across  the  top  and  side  of  the  shoe. 

Turning  (M.). — Turning  upper  right  side  out,  or  in  fine  shoes  turning  the 
whole  shoe. 

Vamping  (M.). — Stitching  the  vamp  to  the  upper. 

METHODS  OF  LEARNING  THE  TRADE. 

Thirty  thousand  women  are  to-day  working  in  various  branches  of 
shoemaking  in  Massachusetts.^  Where  and  how  do  they  learn  the 
processes  connected  with  it,  and  how  long  a  time  is  needed  to  make 
them  competent  wage  earners?  For  the  2,500  women  in  shoe  findings 
and  cut  stock  shops  the  answer  is  simple — the  work  is  of  so  elemen- 
tary a  character  as  to  demand  almost  no  instruction;  the  illiterate 
foreign  women  who  mainly  undertake  it  require  for  most  of  the 
processes  scarcely  as  much  direction  as  their  male  relatives  receive 
from  the  overseer  "  bossing  "  a  piece  of  street  digging.  Monotonous 
repetition  of  mechanical  movements  is  easily  acquired.  Natural  dif- 
ferences in  mental  endowment  are  manifest  not  in  the  degree  of  skill 
but  of  speed. 

For  the  27,500  women  in  factories  working  on  the  complete  product 
the  case  is  very  different.  All  the  processes  are  more  technical,  and 
for  those  connected  with  machine  manipulation  there  are  requisite 

^  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manufactures, 

1911,    p.    2: 

Average  number  : 

Shoe  findings  and  cut  stock 2,  480 

Boots  and  shoes ' 27,  593 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTBY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  43 

intelligence  and  dexterity,  the  first  of  which  must  be  present  in  the 
learner,  while  the  second  must  be  gained  through  instruction.  The 
Commonwealth  supplies  instruction  for  certain  boys  and  men, 
namely,  boys  in  the  reformatory  at  Concord  and  men  in  the  Charles- 
town  prison.  Not  even  in  penal  institutions,  however,  may  a  woman 
have  free  instruction  in  this  means  of  livelihood.  For  her  there  are 
but  two  places  where  she  may  learn  shoemaking — the  factory  or  the 
shoe  school.  The  great  majority  learn  the  processes  in  the  former, 
yet  the  shoe  school,  as  the  more  formal  and  definite  method,  deserves 
first  consideration. 

LEARNING  IN  A  TRADE  SCHOOL. 

A  shoe  school  has  none  of  the  furnishings  that  give  an  academic 
air  to  the  ordinary  schoolroom.  Greasy  machines  replace  the  desks, 
pieces  of  leather  strewn  about  in  disorder,  the  books.  Nor  does  a 
janitor  perform  even  the  most  perfunctory  of  tasks  between  classes; 
sanitary  regulations  are  in  fact  conspicuously  lacking.  The  labor 
unions  have  no  connection  with  shoe  schools  and  are  indifferent  to 
their  condition,  while  the  health  boards  apparently  leave  them  out 
of  their  lists.  So  far  as  could  be  learned  there  are  no  shoe  schools  in 
Greater  Boston,  and  none  in  the  shoe  section  of  which  Marlboro  is 
the  center.  A  good  deal  of  training  is  given,  however,  in  the  factories 
of  these  centers. 

The  six  schools  found  were  all  in  Lynn  or  Brockton.  The  devel- 
oped organization  of  the  shoe  industry  in  both  cities  makes  them 
proper  fields  for  shoe  schools.  In  Lynn,  however,  the  manufacturers 
prefer  to  train  workers  in  their  shops,  since  lack  of  uniformity  and 
certainty  in  union  regulations  permits  this  method.  Brockton  offers 
the  best  conditions  for  shoe  schools,  as  practically  no  shop  teaching 
is  given  there. 

Those  who  attend  the  shoe  schools  are,  in  growing  proportion,  of 
foreign  birth.  They  range  in  age  from  15  to  60  years,  and  many  of 
them  are  illiterate.  Frequently  they  have  been  in  America  only  a 
few  months  and  are  so  anxious  to  learn  a  trade  quickly  that  in  many 
cases  thej^  have  borrowed  the  necessary  tuition  fee.  The  majority  are 
men  between  the  ages  of  18  and  40;  only  about  one-third  of  them 
have  worked  in  shoe  factories  before  entering  the  schools.  The 
women  are  between  15  and  60  years  of  age ;  a  larger  proportion  than 
among  the  men,  though  less  than  one-half,  have  had  some  experience 
in  factories,  usually  only  in  the  various  kinds  of  unskilled  table 
work.  Few  boys  attend  the  schools,  chiefly  because  the  processes 
taught  male  workers  require  maturity  in  the  learner.  The  training 
given  to  the  two  sexes  differs  not  only  in  the  character  of  the  opera- 
tions taught  but  in  the  degree  of  proficiency  requisite.  There  is  a 
distinct  gap  between  the  work  done  by  boys  and  that  done  by  men.'  A 
boy  can  be  an  errand  or  odd-shoe  boy  or  can  block  out  tongues  in  the 


44  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

cutting  room  for  several  years  without  needing  much  training,  but 
to  get  a  man's  job  he  must  have  special  training  either  in  a  factory 
or  school.  Not  so  with  the  girls,  for  whom  the  line  between  unskilled 
and  skilled  work  is  less  sharp.  A  chance  to  work  in  a  factory  is  all 
they  need,  and,  so  far  as  their  future  economic  welfare  is  concerned, 
it  matters  little  whether  they  begin  as  table  or  machine  workers. 
This  explains  the  reason  why  a  large  proportion  of  the  minors  in  the 
shoe  schools  are  girls.  They  are  learning  table  work  or  the  less 
skilled  stitching  processes,  anything  that  will  give  them  access  to  a 
factory.  Once  this  is  gained,  the  capable  girl  can  advance  in  time  to 
the  better-paying  processes. 

Two  schools  give  instruction  in  stitching-room  processes  only,  a 
third  teaches  all  the  operations  necessary  in  making  a  "turned" 
shoe, .  while  two  others  teach  all  processes  except  cutting  and  but- 
tonhole making.  The  managers  offer  instruction  only  in  those  op- 
erations with  which  they  are  themselves  familiar.  Two  schools  have 
courses  in  vamping,  top  stitching,  and  skiving,  because  the  managers 
know  these  special  operations.  The  two  schools  teaching  nearly  all 
operations  employ  several  instructors,  and  are  making  shoes  on  their 
own  account  in  addition  to  running  a  school.  Instruction  in  cutting 
is  not  given,  since  the  cost  of  the  material  is  high  and  the  process  is 
one  requiring  a  long  apprenticeship,  which  is  permitted  by  the  unions 
in  factories.  Buttonhole-machine  operators  have  not  been  in  much 
demand  until  the  recent  popularity  of  button  shoes,  and  as  the  ma- 
chine is  complicated  the  process  is  not  taught  in  shoe  schools. 

The  majority  of  the  students  are  naturally  eager  to  learn  the 
skilled  operations.  They  usually  choose  one  of  the  following  proc- 
esses, for  which  relatively  high  wages  are  paid:  Goodyear  welt- 
ing, Goodyear  stitching,  edge  trimming,  vamping,  pulling  over,  No. 
5  lasting,  edge  setting,  foxing,  and  tip  stitching.  Table  work,  which 
attracts  many  pupils,. is  an  exception;  it  is  chosen  either  by  young 
girls  or  women  well  along  in  years ;  in  either  case  they  are  not  capable 
of  the  swift,  sure  manipulation  necessary  to  run  a  power  machine. 
There  is  a  middle  group  of  operations,  which  attract  few  pupils 
and  require  only  a  fair  degree  of  skill;  these  are  heeling  and  slug- 
ging, McKay  stitching,  buffing,  scouring  and  breasting,  nailing  heel 
seats,  hand  lasting,  and  leather  repairing. 

Of  the  29  processes  taught,  8  only  are  open  to  women — vamp- 
ing, skiving,  foxing  and  tip  stitching,  top  stitching,  seaming  and 
backstaying,  stitching  linings,  patent  leather  repairing,  and  table 
work.  The  charge  for  teaching  these  processes  in  no  case  exceeds, 
and  in  but  two,  vamping  and  skiving,  approaches  $25.  The  time  re- 
quired to  learn  varies  greatly;  vamping  is  the  most  skilled  process, 
and  necessitates,  according  to  the  managers,  from  three  to  seven 
weeks  for  moderate  proficiency,  while  skiving  requires  five  weeks. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  45 

Foxing  and  tip  stitching  requires  from  four  to  six  weeks.  Stitching 
linings  and  patent  leather  repairing  require  but  from  one  to  three 
weeks,  and  the  tuition  is  only  $5,  while  the  service  given  in  table 
work  is  regarded  as  sufficient  compensation  for  instruction  in  the 
simple  and  easily  acquired  processes. 

The  processes  open  to  men  are  more  skilled,  the  necessary  machines 
more  expensive,  and  the  time  required  to  learn  longer,  hence  the 
tuition  for  seven  of  the  most  skilled  processes  ranges  from  $35  to 
$75.  Goodyear  welting,  Goodyear  stitching,  and  rounding  require 
eight  weeks  to  learn.  Edge  trimming,  also  considered  very  skilled, 
takes  seven  weeks  to  master.  McKay  stitching  takes  from  two  to 
five  weeks  to  learn,  while  turn  stitching  and  rapid  stitching  require 
from  two  to  four  weeks  to  master.  These  seven  most  skilled  and  re- 
munerative processes  are  open  to  men  only.  Vamping,  foxing,  tip 
stitching,  and  skiving  are  the  only  skilled  processes  practiced  by 
both  women  and  men. 

The  amount  of  tuition  charged  in  the  different  schools  for  the 
same  process  varies  with  the  location  and  with  the  grade  of  work 
for  which  the  pupils  are  prepared.  T^Hien  pupils  are  preparing  to 
work  on  a  cheap  grade  of  shoe  they  do  not  need  the  skill  expected  of 
workers  on  a  high-grade  shoe,  nor  do  they  require  much  supervision ; 
hence  the  lower  tuition.  One  school  making  its  own  product  claims 
to  teach  the  less  skilled  stitching  operations  free,  providing  the  girls 
do  table  work  without  pay  for  several  weeks.  No  tuition  is  charged 
for  table  work  because  most  of  the  work  is  unskilled  and  does  not 
take  long  to  learn.  The  girls  can  mark,  trim,  paste,  and  fold,  and 
so  reduce  the  cost  of  labor  in  producing  a  shoe.  If  later  they  wish 
to  learn  to  stitch  linings,  to  seam  or  to  put  in  backstays,  the  firm 
promises  to  give  the  instruction  without  charge.  The  promise  is 
not  always  kept. 

All  instruction  in  a  shoe  school  is  individual.  When  Harry  Burns 
went  to  learn  Goodyear  stitching  he  paid  $75  tuition  and  was  put  to 
work  at  once  on  a  Goodyear  machine.  An  instructor  taught  him 
to  run  the  machine  and  started  him  at  stitching  on  scraps  of  leather. 
Later  he  was  initiated  into  the  mystery  of  Goodyear  stitching.  In 
about  six  weeks  he  had  "  got  the  hang  of  the  job,"  but  he  kept  on  for 
two  weeks  longer,  as  he  wanted  more  skill  and  some  speed.  To  find 
work  in  a  shoe  factory,  although  of  necessity  a  nonunion  one,  was  his 
next  step.  Six  months  in  such  a  factory  did  wonders  for  him;  in 
short,  he  had  mastered  Goodyear  stitching.  Next,  friends,  union 
members,  who  could  vouch  for  the  fact  that  he  had  been  working  at 
his  trade  for  six  months  gained  him  admission  to  the  union.  There- 
after he  secured  work  in  a  "  closed  "  shop,  where  wages  were  higher. 

Lilly  Brown  went  through  experiences  somewhat  different  when 
she  decided  to  become  a  vamper.    Fortune  favored  her  from  the  time 


46 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUKEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


she  paid  $25  instead  of  $75  for  tuition  until  she  got  work  in  a  union 
shop  immediately  after  she  left  the  school.  She  had  been  taught  in 
the  school  to  stitch  linings  and  backstays.  Later  she  was  advanced 
to  the  more  difficult  processes,  top  stitching,  closing,  foxing,  under- 
trimming,  tip  stitching,  and  finally  vamping.  Harry  had  spent  eight 
weeks  in  the  school,  and  on  leaving  knew  only  one  skilled  process; 
Lilly  in  her  six  weeks'  time  learned  several  operations  in  addition  to 
vamping.  Neither  was  she  compelled  to  work  six  months  at  her 
new4y  acquired  trade  before  she  could  get  a  job  in  a  unionized  fac- 
tory, for  since  the  demand  for  skilled  women  workers  is  greater  than 
the  supply  her  union  is  not  so  strict  as  the  unions  for  men. 

Careless  and  haphazard  methods  characterize  the  general  conduct 
of  the  shoe  schools.  The  records  kept  are  meager  and  usually  take 
the  form  of  a  receipt  giving  the  name  of  the  pupil  and  the  process  he 
has  chosen.  Addresses  of  present  pupils  are  seldom  kept  and  those 
of  former  ones  are  imknown.  It  is  therefore  difficult  to  ascertain  how 
many  pupils  have  been  enrolled  in  these  schools  during  a  given 
period,  but  it  is  certain  that  at  any  given  time  only  a  small  propor- 
tion of  those  desiring  to  learn  can  be  accommodated.  So  far  as  could 
be  learned,  the  shoe  schools  of  the  State  enroll  altogether  about  1,000 
pupils  at  a  time  and  teach  6,000  to  10,000  of  both  sexes  during  the 
year. 

Table  12.— PROCESSES  TAUGHT  MEN  AND  WOMEN,  TUITION,  AND  TIME  REQUIRED 

TO  LEARN. 

[Based  on  the  Statements  of  managers  of  five  shoemaking  schools.] 


Sex  of  pupils. 


Cost  of 
tuition. 


Number 
of  weeks 
required. 


Goodyear  welting 

Goodyear  stitching 

Rounding 

Turn  stitching 

Rapid  stitching 

Edge  trimming 

McKay  stitching 

Heeling  and  slugging 

Cutting 

Lasting  on  No.  5  machine 

Skiving 

Bottom  finishing , 

Vamping 

Pulling  over 

Edge  setting 

Foxing  and  tip  stitching 

Turn  lasting , 

Turning  and  beating  out 

B  ufling 

Scouring  and  breasting 

Top  stitching 

Seaming  and  backstaying 

McKay  lasting 

Nailing  heel  seats 

Hand  lasting 

Leveling  and  stitch  separating 

Stitching  linings 

Patent  leather  repairing 

Table  work 


Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male  and  female 

Male 

Male  and  female 

Male 

Male 

Male  and  female 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male  and  female 
Male  and  female 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male 

Male  and  female 
Male  and  female 
Female 


$75 

75 

50 

50 

50 

$25  to  40 

35 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

20  to  25 

15  to  25 

20 

15 

15 

15 

15 

15 

5  to  15 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

5 

5 

0 


8 
8 
8 
2  to  4 
2  to  4 
7 

2  to  5 
2to6 

5 
3 
5 
2 

3  to  7 
3  to  4 

4 
4 
2 
2 

2  to  3 
2 

4t06 
3 
2 
1 
3 
2 
1 
3 
3 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  47 

LEARNING   IN   THE   SHOE   FACTORY. 

Those  who  learn  shoemaking  in  the  factory  may  be  divided,  with 
reference  to  the  conditions  of  their  instruction,  into  three  groups, 
namely,  first,  those  who  "  pick  up "  knowledge  of  a  process  in  a 
factory  where  regulations  of  management  or  labor  unions  forbid 
instruction;  second,  those  working  where  self-instruction  or  casual 
teaching  from  fellow  workers  or  foremen  is  permitted;  third,  those 
regularly  taught  by  their  employer,  in  the  hope  of  their  remaining 
with  him  permanently.  The  first  class  is  found  in  some  highly 
unionized  centers,  where  teaching  of  new  workers  is  forbidden,  with 
a  view  to  preventing  overcrowding  in  the  best  jobs  and  consequent 
reduction  of  prices.  They  are  found,  too,  in  localities  where  skilled 
help  is  abundant  and  a  sign  on  the  factory  door  brings  a  dozen  eager 
applicants,  from  whom  the  manager  may  choose  at  leisure.  The  ex- 
periences of  the  would-be  instructed  worker  in  these  localities  are 
always  varied  and  sometimes  sad.  Ora,  for  example,  gets  a  job 
as  floor  girl  in  the  stitching  room  of  a  Marlboro  factory.  Her  work 
is  carrying  stock  to  and  from  the  women  at  the  tables  and  machines. 
As  she  is  alert  and  anxious  to  learn,  she  watches  the  different  opera- 
tions, and  soon  gains  a  fair  idea  of  the  simpler  ones.  Some  time, 
when  the  foreman  is  scolding  a  worker  at  the  other  end  of  the  room, 
she  slips  to  a  vacant  machine  and  "  has  a  try."  Soon  after  a  lining 
stitcher  leaves  or  is  moved  up.  Ora  declares  to  the  foreman :  "  If  you 
will  let  me  try  linings,  I  am  sure  I  can  make  good."  It  is  as  easy 
to  let  her  try  as  to  find  a  worker  from  outside,  so  she  goes  ahead,  and, 
being  intelligent,  does  "  make  good."  It  is  safe  to  prophesy  that  she 
will  advance  steadily  and  rapidly. 

The  fortune  of  another  girl  of  this  class  is  different.  Mamie  Dunn 
obtains  a  job  at  sorting  the  smaller  pieces  of  leather  in  the  cutting 
room.  Here  is  no  opportunity  to  "  pick  up,"  for  all  the  other  work 
in  the  room  belongs  to  men.  She  stays  on  for  six  months  or  per- 
haps a  year  and  is  still  a  sorter  with  a  meager  wage.  She  waits  a 
little  longer  and  then  speaks  to  the  foreman,  but  nothing  happens. 
Then  she  begins  to  look  about  her  and  learns  that  in  a  neighboring 
shop  a  packer  is  wanted.  She  applies  for  the  place  and  gets  it  by  a 
"bluff" — that  is,  by  claiming  to  be  a  packer.  The  work  is  simple 
and  she  does  it  successfully;  it  is  also  clean  and  pays  fairly  well,  so 
Mamie  is  safely  launched.  But  these  are  the  more  fortunate  cases. 
Rose  Ferrino  has  not  the  push  of  these  girls.  She  goes  into  the  shop 
and  is  put  on  pasting,  an  unskilled,  poorly  paid,  and  very  dirty  work. 
She  pastes  away  patiently  and  does  not  try  to  learn  anything  else; 
not  that  she  does  not  want  to,  but  she  does  not  Imow  how  to  go  about 
it.  She  is  not  naturally  observant,  all  her  training  in  school  had  to 
do  with  books  and  not  things,  so  she  stays  where  she  is  and  nobody 


48  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

pushes  her  on.  Finally  she  gets  "  sick  of  it "  and  leaves.  The  fore- 
man lets  her  go  without  demur,  for  he  knows  he  can  get  some  one 
better  in  a  few  hours.  When  she  applies  for  a  job  at  another  fac- 
tory she  is  asked  what  she  can  do.  She  replies  "  only  pasting,"  and 
she  is  destined  to  do  only  this  dull  and  unremunerative  work  so  long 
as  she  remains  in  the  factory,-  and  that  may  be  for  many  years. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  group,  found  where  union  regulations 
are  less  strict  and  help  less  plentiful,  or  where  an  individual  shop 
plans,  by  prospects  of  promotion,  to  make  its  force  as  stable  as  pos- 
sible. Here  the  worker  is  allowed  to  practice  on  a  machine  in  her 
spare  moments.  There  are  many  days  when  there  is  no  Avork  for  at 
least  a  half  hour,  and  during  that  time  much  learning  and  teaching 
can  be  carried  on  among  the  workers.  The  foreman  comes  along 
from  time  to  time  and  offers  helpful  comment.  In  the  mornings  and 
afternoons  after  the  power  is  turned  on  the  learner  can  sometimes 
practice  on  the  machine  of  a  worker  who  is  late.  She  has  chances  to 
learn  several  processes  and  soon  discovers  the  one  she  likes  best  or, 
more  frequently,  the  one  by  which  she  can  make  most  money. 

The  third  is  the  fortunate  group.  In  their  neighborhood  is  a  large 
factory  which  daily  displays  the  notice,  "  Girls  wanted  to  learn." 
It  is  usually  an  isolated  factory — one  which,  owing  to  trouble  with 
unions  or  desire  for  cheaper  labor,  has  moved  from  a  shoe  center 
to  a  new  community.  Such  a  shop  must  face  a  double  problem — 
that  of  finding  workers  and  of  training"  them  when  found.  The 
offer  of  training  serves  two  purposes — it  attracts  unskilled  workers, 
and  gradually  supplies  the  shop  with  skilled  help.  Training  is  also 
given  by  a  few  established  firms  which  realize  the  advantage  of 
having  their  work  done  by  their  own  methods  instead  of  by  those 
which  each  individual  finds  comfortable  for  herself.  The  system  of 
teaching  is  practically  the  same  in  both  classes  of  factories.  Certain 
operators  who  have  shown  ability  are  selected  for  teachers  and,  as 
such,  are  paid  about  $20  a  week.  The  learner  is  usually  a  child  of 
14  to  16  years  of  age  who  has  just  left  school,  and  from  the  moment 
she  enters  the  shop  is  under  the  care  of  the  teacher.  She  is  first  put 
on  table  work,  and  while  learning  it  is  paid  from  $2  to  $3.50  a  week. 
If  she  shows  any  skill  she  is  pushed  on  rapidly.  When  she  reaches 
the  machines  she  is  first  put  on  lining  stitching,  as  it  is  light  work, 
and  the  material,  if  spoiled,  is  little  loss.  From  this  she  passes  to 
stitching  the  smaller  leather  parts.  She  may  not  learn  vamping,  the 
most  difficult  of  all  the  stitching  processes,  until  she  can  stitch  the 
several  other  parts  of  the  shoe  successfully.  Few  girls,  however, 
learn  a  great  many  processes;  the  young  worker  will  usually  stay 
at  the  first  on  which  she  can  make  a  fair  wage,  even  though  her 
employer  urges  her  to  advance.  With  the  exception  of  vamping, 
there  are  no  restrictions  as  to  age  in  learning  the  various  processes, 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTBY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  49 

and  young  girls  can  master  them  in  a  short  time.  One  teacher  esti- 
mated that  a  girl  beginning  at  14  reaches  her  best  and  most  rapid  out- 
put at  19  years  old.  Her  impetuosity  is  a  help  rather  than  a  hin- 
drance. She  has  no  fear  of  her  machine,  is  naturally  swift  in  her 
movements,  and  less  afraid  of  making  mistakes  than  an  older  girl. 

While  the  girl  who  picks  up  her  trade  or  teaches  herself  can  select 
the  process  which  she  likes  best,  the  girl  who  is  taught  has  usually 
less  choice.  Her  employer  considers  himself  the  best  judge  of  her 
capacity,  while  as  a  rule  he  puts  her  into  the  place  where  help  is 
needed  without  consideration  either  for  her  feelings  or  her  capa- 
bilities. This  is  probnbly  one  of  the  reasons  why  learners  are  un- 
willing to  stay  in  the  shops  where  they  get  so  much  for  nothing. 

The  operations  taught  beginners  in  factories  are  all  extremely 
simple.  Workers  in  localities,  however,  where  the  trade  may  be 
picked  up,  frequently  start  on  the  more  difficult  processes.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  women  between  40  and  50  years  old.  Out  of 
214  women  visited,  who  reported  in  various  centers,  3  had  begun  as 
vampers,  12  as  closers,  12  as  buttonhole  operators,  9  as  backstayers, 
and  8  as  top  stitchers.  One  hundred  and  seven,  exactly  half  the 
number,  had  begun  on  various  machines. 

It  is  evident  that  the  burden  of  instruction  is  very  unevenly  di- 
vided among  the  factories,  some  assuming  much  and  some  very  little. 
A  few  are  so  fortunate  as  to  have  a  steady  supply  of  skilled  opera- 
tives trained  in  the  neighboring  shops,  a  condition  found  chiefly  in 
small  shoe  centers  where  one  shop  pays  better  or  is  "  nicer  "  than 
the  others  and  consequently  attracts  the  best  workers.  W^here  the 
trade  is  picked  up,  or  learned  at  odd  moments,  the  cost  to  the  em- 
ployer is  very  small,  as  a  machine  can  be  used  only  if  it  has  been 
vacated  by  some  one  else  and  the  learner  can  "  try  "  only  in  the  free 
time  for  which  she  is  drawing  no  pay.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
employer  who  trains  all  his  help  does  so  at  heavy  cost,  made  up  of 
the  wear  and  tear  on  machines,  the  power  necessary  to  run  them,  the 
waste  of  materials,  the  wages  of  the  teacher,  and  the  wages  of  the 
learner.  The  value  of  the  learner's  product  certainly  does  not 
balance  this,  while  the  training  is  made  still  more  costly  by  the  fact 
that  a  large  number  of  the  girl  learners  leave  after  they  have  reached 
the  point  at  which  they  become  valuable.  A  generally  alleged  reason 
for  leaving  is  that  they  are  "  discontented."  More  definite  explana- 
tion discloses  various  causes :  Frequently  they  can  not  learn  the 
process  they  wish;  often  the  girl  claims  a  high  wage  when  she  has 
mastered  an  operation,  without  realizing  that  she  has  not  gained 
the  speed  which  makes  her  production  valuable;  sometimes,  too,  the 
learner  is  put  on  piecework  almost  at  the  beginning,  and  as  her  out- 
put is  very  small  she  becomes  disheartened  and  leaves. 
3S81  °— Bull.  18a-15 4 


50 


BULLETIN    OF   THE  BUKEAU   OF   LABOR  STATISTICS. 


The  time  necessary  to  learn  processes  in  the  factory  is  difficult  to 
estimate,  varying  as  it  does  with  every  operation  and  with  every 
learner.  To  quote  the  skilled  worker:  "It  all  depends  upon  how 
smart  you  are."  Table  work,  buttoning,  and  trimming  threads  take 
no  time  to  learn;  blacking  and  cementing  can  be  mastered  in  from 
5  to  15  minutes.  The  stitching  processes  naturally  take  longer, 
but  each  is  a  help  toward  the  next.  Were  one  to  learn  vamping  at 
the  start,  it  would  take  at  least  three  months,  whereas  when  it  is 
taken  up  after  several  other  stitching  processes  it  is  said  that  it  can 
be  mastered  in  one  week. 

The  following  table  is  based  on  information  given  by  214  women 
working  in  shoe  factories : 

Tablk  13— time  required  BY  214  WOMEN  TO  LEARN  VARIOUS  KINDS  OF  WORK  IN 

THE   SHOE  TRADE. 

[Based  on  personal  statements  of  the  women.] 


Kind  of  work. 

Less  than  1  week. 

1  week  to  4  weeks. 

1  month  to  12 
months. 

Total. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Machine: 

Skilled               

17 

8 

6 
55 

24.0 
22.9 

26.1 
65.5 

29 
16 

14 
27 

40.0 
45.7 

60.9 
32.1 

26 
11 

3 
2 

36.0 
31.4 

13.0 
2.4 

72 

Medium  skilled 

35 

Hand: 

Skilled 

23 

Unskilled    

84 

Total 

86 

86 

42 

214 

When  one  considers  the  rapidity  with  which  these  operations  are 
learned  a  trade  school  seems  superfluous.  Its  main  advantage  would 
be  to  give  the  mastery  of  several  processes,  especially  the  skilled  ones, 
so  that  the  worker  would  be  equipped  to  fill  different  positions.  This 
equipment  would  double  or  treble  the  chances  of  getting  a  "  paying 
job."  It  has  been  estimated  that  a  bright  girl  of  16  or  17  could 
master  in  less  than  two  years  all  the  occupations  open  to  women. 

The  citation  of  the  "  bright  girl "  raises  a  question.  Given  the 
same  opportunity,  or  lack  of  it,  what  is  it  that  makes  some  young 
workers  succeed  and  others  fail  ?  The  foreman  will  tell  you  that  if  a 
girl  is  bright  and  industrious,  particularly  the  latter,  she  will  soon 
become  skilled,  by  "  skilled  "  meaning  she  will  possess  the  sum  total 
of  qualities  necessary  to  make  a  good  wage  on  piecework.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  however,  nobody  acquires  skill  in  a  shop.  What  she 
acquires  is  "  speed  " — that  is,  the  power  of  handling  things  quickly 
though  not  necessarily  correctly.  A  young  assistant  forewoman  un- 
consciously summed  up  the  matter  very  well  when,  in  speaking  of  a 
sister  whom  she  had  trained,  she  said,  "  Anne  could  make  nothing  on 
linings  so  I  put  her  on  backstays;  since  then  she  has  done  well." 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOB   WOMEN.  51 

Stitching  linings  is  a  simple  process  paid  for  at  a  slender  piece  rate ; 
it  must  therefore  be  done  very  rapidly  if  the  worker  is  to  make 
even  a  small  wage;  in  other  words,  the  key  to  success  in  this  case  is 
speed.  Anne  evidently  had  not  and  could  not  acquire  this  speed, 
so  she  was  put  on  a  harder  job  carrying  a  higher  rate  of  pay.  Here 
she  succeeded  for  she  had  "  skill " — that  is,  she  could  do  a  difficult 
thing,  though  she  could  not  do  it  very  quickly.  Speed,  then,  is  the 
one  thing  that  can  be  acquired  in  the  shop,  and  this  comes  with  time 
and  not  with  teaching.  Speed  and  skill  together  make  the  key  to 
success;  but  not  all  possess  both  qualifications.  Scientific  manage- 
ment could  give  skill  and  the  next  best  gift,  speed,  to  some  who  can 
not  develop  either  unaided,  but  it  would  take  a  trained  teacher  to  do 
it,  and  teachers  are  rare  in  the  factory.  There  are  few  foremen 
who  can  stand  over  the  young  worker's  machine  and  show  her  what 
is  wrong  in  method  and  movements.  The  whole  teaching  of  the 
operation  is  customarily  summed  up  in,  "Get  up  and  let  me  show 
you." 

The  wage  seeker,  young  or  old,  American  or  foreign,  who  chooses 
the  shoe  factory  as  his  field  will  naturally  balance  the  merits  and 
defects  of  each  method  of  learning.  He  will  ask  advice  and  receive 
it  in  bewildering  variety.  A  foreigner  will  doubt  his  ability  to  win 
success  without  formal  instruction  in  the  trade ;  a  young  person  with 
American  notions  will  rely  on  "picking  it  up,"  or  choose  factory 
training.  The  advantages  of  the  schools  as  at  present  managed 
are  dubious.  Certainly  the  pupils  learn  how  to  run  a  power  ma- 
chine, but  the  process  it  represents  is  seldom  thoroughly  mastered  in 
the  time  they  can  afford  to  give.  One  woman  interviewed  had  learned 
vamping  in  a  school,  but,  in  her  own  words,  "  got  only  a  vague  idea 
of  vamping,  and  had  a  lot  to  learn  when  she  began  in  the  factory." 
Hers  is  no  exceptional  case.  "They  haven't  had  experience  enough 
to  work  rapidly,"  explained  one  of  the  school  instructors  when  ac- 
counting for  the  frequent  failure  of  his  pupils  to  hold  factory  posi- 
tions. The  hostility  of  the  settled  force  to  new  workers  is  accounted 
for  by  a  union  official  on  the  ground  that  the  daily  work  is  so  corre- 
lated in  amount  as  to  meet  the  average  output  of  a  fair  worker.  Any- 
one who  can  not  measure  up  to  the  average  reduces  the  amount  of 
work  assigned,  and  therefore  the  earnings  for  the  whole  room. 
School-taught  workers  are  so  frequently  laggards  that  every  effort 
is  made  to  shove  them  out.  The  fact  of  school  training  is  seldom  an 
advantage  when  an  applicant  interviews  superintendents.  The  lat- 
ter claim  that  the  only  advantage  conferred  by  a  shoe  school  is  the 
acquisition  of  a  certain  self-confidence,  and  they  ignore  the  fact  that 
to  a  foreigner  this  is  a  very  real  advantage.  Foremen  and  forewomen 
usually  prefer  the  totally  unskilled  as  beginners.     Practically  no 


52  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

effort  to  place  their  pupils  is  made  by  the  schools.  Occasionally  a 
bright  pupil  is  helped  to  a  good  position,  or  during  a  rush  season  one 
or  two  of  the  advanced  learners  may  be  sent  to  a  factory  in  response 
to  a  telephone  call,  but  to  secure  work  the  rank  and  file  must  depend 
on  their  own  efforts. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  the  rigid  limitation  of  numbers  and  of 
instruction  in  union  centers  is  less  severely  felt  in  the  women's  rooms, 
it  forces  many  young  people  to  leave  their  homes  and  seek  other  cen- 
ters where  they  may  legitimately  learn  what  they  can  acquire  only 
surreptitiously  at  home.  They  have  no  attachment  to  the  strange  fac- 
tory and  will  leave  it  for  a  familiar  environment  or  for  higher  wages 
when  they  can.  The  possible  establishment  of  publicly  maintained 
trade  schools  equipped  to  teach  shoemaking  is  viewed  with  little 
apprehension  by  the  managers  of  private  shoe  schools,  since  a  course 
planned  to  cover  a  year  or  more  is  not  apt  to  draw  pupils  from  the 
short-term  courses.  A  public  trade  school,  to  supersede  the  inefficient 
shoe  school  and  the  usual  haphazard  factory  teaching,  must  shorten 
the  shoemaking  course,  yet  make  it  possible  for  the  pupil,  without 
losing  his  position,  to  acquire  proficiency  by  means  of  part-time  or 
continuation  instruction. 

HOURS  OF  LABOR. 

Factory  people  begin  work  early.  The  shoe  workers  pour  into 
the  passage  marked  "  For  employees  only  "  as  the  whistles  are  shriek- 
ing 7  o'clock.  In  their  respective  workrooms  they  remain,  with  an 
hour's  interval  at  noon,  until  5.  Since  the  54  hours-a-week  law  for 
women  became  effective  in  January,  1912,  the  above  has  been  the 
usual  arrangement  in  Lynn.  It  is  varied  in  certain  factories  by  ex- 
tending the  hours  on  5  days  and  closing  at  1  p.  m.  on  Saturday. 
This  custom  is  almost  universal  in  summer.  Occasionally  a  factory 
begins  w^ork  at  6.30  a.  m.  and  closes  earlier.  The  hours  vary  some- 
what with  the  season,  but  the  nominal  10  hours  of  work  for  5  days 
with  a  short  day  on  Saturday  is  growing  in  favor. 

In  Brockton  the  hours  of  beginning  and  ending  work  vary  some- 
what. Hundreds  of  workers  come  in  from  outlying  towns  by  long- 
distance trolley,  and  as  many  more  arrive  by  train.  To  accommo- 
date these  outsiders,  many  Brockton  factories  cut  down  the  noon  spell 
to  a  half  hour  and  close  work  at  4.30  or  4.45  p.  m.  to  allow  their  help 
to  make  trains.  Saturday  afternoon  is  not  so  frequently  given  as  in 
Lynn,  most  of  the  shops  running  the  same  hours  each  day  in  the 
week,  even  in  summer. 

Overtime  w  ork  is  uncommon  in  shoe  factories  in  Lynn  and  Brock- 
ton, and  is  rare  in  any  well-run  factory.  On  a  few  nights  in  the  busy 
seasons  the  stitching  room  gets  ahead  of  the  lasting  and  dressing 
rooms  and  a  few  workers  remain  to  catch  up.     In  cold  weather 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  53 

leather  cracks,  the  repair  work  increases  abnormally,  and  girls  are 
often  requested  to  remain  to  finish  an  order.  They  are  not  com- 
pelled to  do  so,  but,  of  course,  a  request  from  the  manager  is  seldom 
refused.  Nor  are  some  women  averse  to  earning  the  occasional 
extra  pay. 

In  Marlboro  and  the  towns  of  its  section  56  hours  was  the  usual 
working  week  before  the  recent  law.  At  present  the  10-hour  day 
with  a  free  Saturday  afternoon  is  very  popular.  In  some  factories 
a  9J-hour  day  is  preferred  with  a  short  day  on  Saturday.  The  prep- 
aration for  a  day's  work  and  its  winding  up  take  as  much  time  on  a 
half  as  a  whole  day,  so  that  any  arrangement  giving  a  short  Satur- 
day is  costly  to  the  management.  Yet  a  discontented  force  is  more 
costly,  even  in  a  nonunionized  town.  The  free  Saturday  afternoon  is 
fairly  established  in  this  whole  region. 

A  54-hour  week  was  the  custom  in  Boston  even  before  the  passage 
of  the  law.  The  work  begins  at  7.15  or  7.30 ;  usually  a  half  hour  only 
is  given  at  noon,  and  the  factory  closes  at  5.  But  no  custom  is  uni- 
versal in  the  various  sections  included  under  the  name  of  "  Boston." 

The  54  hours-a-week  law  went  into  effect  January  1,  1912,  and, 
when  this  investigation  was  made,  had  been  in  operation  only  a  short 
time.  Like  a  new  broom  it  had  swept  clean,  and  evasions  were  yet  un- 
common. Nevertheless,  there  are  factories  in  which  the  power  is  put 
on  and  workers  voluntarily  begin  before  the  end  of  the  noon  hour. 

WORKING  CONDITIONS  AND  SANITATION. 

The  factory  at  which  the  workers  arrive  at  7  a.  m.  may  be  a  six- 
story  brick  building  of  many  windows  and  ample  floor  space,  or  a 
three-story  wooden  strvicture  crowded  and  ill-lighted  throughout. 
The  better  building  is  more  common  in  Brockton  and  in  Marlboro, 
while  the  largest  factories  in  the  outskirts  of  Boston  are  buildings  of 
a  model  character.  In  the  smaller  towns,  and  conspicuously  in  the 
Lynn  district,  old  frame  structures,  often  forlorn  and  unsafe,  are 
still  in  use. 

The  workrooms  differ  in  character  as  widely  as  do  the  buildings, 
but  the  position  of  the  stitching  room  in  a  factory  and  the  gen- 
eral arrangement  of  the  machines  varies  little.  The  usual  plan  is  to 
provide  the  shoe  with  a  steady  journey  of  development  from  the  top 
floor  to  the  bottom.  This  gives  the  stitching  room,  in  which  are  the 
majority  of  women  workers,  either  a  part  of  the  top  floor  shared  by 
the  cutters,  or  the  floor  below  the  cutters.  The  women  packers,  who 
are  the  last  to  touch  the  shoe,  are  on  the  first  floor  nearest  the  offices. 
When  a  factory  is  small  it  frequently  occupies  one  floor,  high  in  a 
building,  the  first  floor  of  which  is  given  up  to  the  offices  of  different 
firms.  In  most  cases  the  main  rooms  in  which  women  work  are  on 
the  top  floors.    Yet  elevators,  except  for  freight,  are  extremely  few. 


54  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

Sometimes,  but  rarely,  the  women  are  allowed  to  use  freight  ele- 
vators between  stated  hours,  a  privilege  commonly  given  only  to 
those  who  present  a  doctor's  certificate.  The  long  flights  of  stairs 
to  the  fourth  or  fifth  floor  must  be  mounted  twice  a  day. 

The  ordinary  stitching  room,  where  the  majority  of  the  women  are 
found,  is  lighter  than  other  rooms  in  the  factory  because  higher  up, 
but  it  is  so  crowded  that  it  seldom  gives  an  impression  of  being  well 
lighted.  Sometimes  there  are  windows  on  all  four  sides  of  the  room, 
but  under  these  windows  is  a  close  double  row  of  machines.  Be- 
hind this  double  row  is  an  aisle;  but  with  racks  of  shoes  standing 
about  on  the  floor  and  floor  girls  hurrying  to  and  fro,  the  aisle  takes 
little  from  the  air  of  congestion.  Behind  this  aisle,  again,  in  the 
center  of  the  room,  if  machines  are  placed  around  all  sides,  or  against 
the  windowless  wall  when  they  are  not,  are  the  tables  for  the  hand- 
workers. The  first  row  of  machines,  therefore,  has  good  light  and 
air,  the  second  a  less  but  still  tolerable  supply.  The  table  workers 
have  the  worst  of  the  situation  in  every  way ;  frequently  their  tables 
are  placed  in  a  close  little  space  surrounded  by  high  racks  of  shoes, 
where  the  younger  girls  work  all  day,  cut  off  from  daylight  and 
good  air. 

But  they  are  in  no  worse  situation  than  the  women  downstairs  in 
the  packing  room.  This  room,  at  the  back  of  the  first  floor,  always 
has  poor  light,  its  windows  frequently  opening  upon  some  narrow 
alley  between  tall  buildings.  Since  the  task  of  packers  and  tip  fixers 
requires  close  study  of  the  shoe,  the  half  daylight  or  artificial  light 
is  extremely  trying  to  eyes  and  head.  Further,  while  the  air  every- 
where in  the  factory  is  heavy  with  the  odor  of  leather,  in  the  packing 
room  and  sometimes  near  the  tables  in  other  rooms,  the  odors  from, 
pastes  and  blackings  used  are  particularly  sickening.  Better  air  is 
possible  where  there  are  plenty  of  windows,  but  the  workers  who 
spend  9  or  10  hours  a  day  indoors  are  afraid  of  the  cold,  so  the 
windows  are  kept  closed.  Any  attempt  at  artificial  ventilation  is 
unusual. 

Cleanliness  is  carefully  maintained  in  the  offices,  but  very  little 
regarded  in  the  workrooms.  Usually  a  man  is  detailed  to  sweep  up 
about  the  machines,  but  he  is  apt  to  sweep  up  only  the  scraps  of 
leather,  leaving  dust  thick  in  the  corners.  Even  this  slight  aid  is 
sometimes  denied  the  workers,  and  they  are  forced  to  hire  some  one  or 
to  sweep,  themselves,  if  they  wish  their  places  clean. 

The  habit  of  spitting  upon  the  floor  is  common  in  the  men's  rooms, 
and  men  introduced  into  the  stitching  rooms  do  not  always  leave 
their  habits  behind  them.  The  mang^ers,  however,  often  claim  that 
women  are  more  untidy  and  more  Hf^lectful  of  sanitary  precautions 
than  men.  and  that  the  efforts  made  in  the  best  factories  to  secure 
better  conditions  are  largely  wasted  from  lack  of  cooperation  in  the 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  55 

working  force.  The  unions,  especially  in  Brockton,  have  made  some 
efforts  to  secure  better  conditions,  but  these  efforts  seem  rather  aimed 
to  rouse  the  management  than  to  give  the  workers  themselves  higher 
ideals. 

The  care  of  the  toilets,  legally  the  employer's  affair,  is  also  some- 
times left  to  the  women.  In  Lynn  they  are  often  obliged  to  hire  some 
one  to  keep  them  decent;  and  while  the  money  burden  is  light,  the 
injustice  of  the  arrangement  is  keenly  felt  by  some.  Toilets,  sepa- 
rate for  men  and  for  women  as  required  by  law,  usually  on  each  floor, 
are  always  provided,  yet  they  are  seldom  more  than  tolerably  clean, 
and  sometimes  distinctly  insanitary. 

Dressing  rooms,  though  necessary  for  the  comfort  and  decency  of 
the  operatives,  are  to  be  found  only  in  the  best  factories.  A  woman 
careful  of  her  appearance  always  changes  her  street  clothes  for  a 
costume  suited  to  the  conditions  of  the  shop.  It  is  neither  convenient 
nor  decent  for  her  to  change  her  dress  in  the  stitching  room  itself; 
yet  often  the  only  dressing  convenience  she  has  is  a  nail  driven  in  the 
wall  above  her  machine.  Where  dressing  rooms  are  found  they  are 
simply  dark  corners  of  the  room  shut  off  by  wooden  partitions  and  so 
small  that  in  the  rush  at  noon  and  at  night  the  girls  using  them  have 
scarcely  room  to  turn  about. 

Lunch  rooms  in  the  shoe  factories  are  not  found  in  Lynn.  One 
large  factory,  however,  provides  a  clubhouse  for  its  women  employees, 
a  delightful  place  where  good  meals  are  served  at  cost.  But  this  is 
the  only  lunch  room  connected  with  a  factory  in  Lynn.  Other  fac- 
tories sometimes  allow  an  outsider  to  come  in  and  cook  for  the  work- 
ers on  a  stove  in  one  of  the  rooms;  sometimes  the  workers  cook  for 
themselves.  The  women  often  bring  tea  or  coffee  in  bottles  and  heat 
the  beverage  to  drink  with  their  cold  lunches.  But  despite  the  added 
cheer,  it  is  a  bad  practice  to  use  the  workroom  as  a  lunch  room.  It 
prevents  it  from  being  aired  in  the  absence  of  the  workers  and  gives 
them  no  change  from  their  surroundings,  and  therefore  no  real  re- 
laxation. Workroom  conditions  are  too  frequently  detrimental  to 
health  and  habits  of  self-respect. 

Lack  of  proper  conveniences  is  an  evil,  but  in  the  stitching  room  it 
is  not  the  chief  evil.  That,  to  a  visitor,  is  the  racking  noise.  Over  the 
hum  of  the  power  belt  and  the  whir  of  the  stitching  machines  comes 
the  rapid  jar,  clank,  clank,  clank  of  the  eyeleting  machine  and  the 
vicious  whir-clank-stop  of  the  Reece  buttonhole  machine;  and 
through  and  above  it  all  the  teeth-on-edge  shriek  of  the  men's  lasting 
machines  below,  making  altogether  a  noise  truly  infernal.  The  work- 
ers themselves  become  used  to  it,  declare  that  they  do  not  mind  it, 
and  deny  that  it  makes  them  nervous;  they  only  regret  that  the 
effort  to  be  heard  in  the  workroom  makes  their  voices  loud,  high- 
pitched,  and  harsh. 


56  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU    OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

The  physical  conditions  in  the  shoe  factories  of  Lynn  seem  to  indi- 
cate a  center  satisfied  to  be  as  it  always  has  been — sordid  but  success- 
ful. The  "  fads  "  of  dressing  rooms  and  rest  rooms  and  lunch  rooms 
are  felt  to  be  all  very  well  for  other  cities,  but  a  waste  of  valuable 
floor  space  in  Lynn.  This  is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  most  firms  do 
not  own  the  buildings  in  which  thej  manufacture;  the  owner,  who 
builds  for  some  unknown  tenant,  does  not  care  to  risk  the  loss  of  floor 
space  that  might  prevent  him  from  leasing. 

In  some  of  the  modern  factories  variously  located,  conditions  in 
the  workrooms  are  as  favorable  to  health  and  comfort  as  they  can  be 
made  in  a  factory.  One  fine  factory  near  Boston  claims  peculiar  ad- 
vantages in  its  workroom  arrangements;  nevertheless,  the  w^omen 
stitchers  are  set  so  close  together  that  each  has  an  irritating  con- 
sciousness of  a  neighbor's  proximity.  The  racking  noise  from  the 
buttonholing  machines  seems  redoubled  by  this  crowding. 

Dust  arising  from  the  material  subjected  to  the  machine  is  not  an 
injurious  result  of  work  in  the  stitching  room  as  it  is  in  the  bottom- 
ing room.  The  actual  manipulation  of  certain  machines  does,  how- 
ever, produce  some  physical  injury.  Operators  on  buttonhole  and 
eyeleting  machines  are  frequently  forced  to  give  up  the  work  on 
account  of  "  stomach  trouble."  The  effect  of  these  special  machines 
upon  the  nerves  is  often  disastrous. 

The  first  impression  made  upon  a  visitor  is  the  tremendous  speed 
at  which  the  machines  are  run.  The  rate  is  usually  voluntary,  yet  an 
ambitious  and  practiced  worker  is  under  the  temptation  of  using  a 
speed  that  strains  nerves  and  eyes.  The  pauses  in  the  work  so  fre- 
quent in  the  stitching  rooms,  though  they  mean  financial  loss,  are  a 
relief  to  the  strain  and  break  the  wearisome  monotony  of  making  the 
same  number  of  stitches  hour  after  hour  on  bits  of  leather  identically 
the  same. 

The  monotonous,  often  nerve- wearing,  character  of  the  work  is  the 
real  cause  of  what  sometimes  appears  caprice  in  throwing  up  jobs. 
"  Tired  of  it "  is  one  of  the  most  frequent  reasons  assigned  for  the 
abrupt  relinquishment  of  work.  To  get  out  and  hunt  for  another 
kind  of  operation  or  to  work  in  different  surroundings  is  a  coveted 
relief.  Change  of  occupation  within  the  same  factory  is  often  de- 
sired, especially  by  handworkers.  Once  on  a  fairly  good  job,  there 
is  sometimes  for  several  years  no  decided  desire  for  another.  Then 
comes  a  day  when  the  monotonous  repetition  wears  through  nerve  en- 
durance. Of  300  women  interviewed  in  their  homes,  nearly  80  gave 
as  a  reason  for  leaving  a  job,  ''tired  of  it."  On  the  whole,  however, 
there  is  as  much  variety  in  the  shoe  work  as  in  the  clothing  trades, 
and  far  more  than  in  the  textile  mills  or  the  majority  of  other  factory 
trades.  At  present  the  machinery  in  use  can  not,  as  in  a  cotton  mill, 
do  away  with  dexterity  and  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  operator. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  57 

The  selection  of  material,  its  adjustment  to  the  machine,  the  inspec- 
tion for  perfection  and  finish,  all  create  in  the  operator  an  individual 
relationship  to  his  part  of  the  product,  even  though  he  may  never 
deal  with  a  whole  shoe.  The  "  speeding  up  "  complained  of  in  the 
textile  or  box-making  industries  is  not  common ;  the  worker  usually 
runs  the  machine  at  the  pace  he  desires,  as  it  can  produce  good  work 
only  w  hen  guided  by  a  clever  hand.  This  feeling  of  responsibility  is 
no  doubt  a  main  reason  why  many  of  the  shoe  workers,  though  but 
dimly  aware  of  the  cause,  are  not  unsatisfied  with  their  work. 


CHAPTER  IV.— WAGES  OF  WOMEN  SHOE  WORKERS. 

INTRODUCTION. 

No  one  statement  in  relation  to  conditions  in  the  shoe  trade  is  made 
more  frequently  or  with  a  greater  emphasis  than  that  the  Avage  scale 
is  higher  than  that  of  any  other  factory  industry.  That  this  is  a 
general  conviction  among  wage  earners  and  employers  alike,  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  but  the  causes  assigned  are  as  various  as  the  char- 
acters of  the  informants.  The  owner  of  a  factory  quotes  the  free 
competition  of  an  industry  as  yet  unaifected  by  the  trust  tendency ; 
the  officials  of  the  larger  unions  assert  that  organization  of  labor  has 
succeeded  in  setting  a  reasonable  wage  standard,  which,  maintained 
in  the  larger  centers,  forces  up  wages  even  in  unorganized  localities ; 
the  practical  directing  force  in  the  factory  explain  as  a  cause  of  high 
wages  the  skilled  nature  of  the  processes,  demanding  an  intelligence 
commanding  everywhere  its  price. 

Doubtless  these  are  all  real  conditions,  and  taken  separately  or  to- 
gether they  make  the  weekly  rates  of  wages  relatively  high.  It  re- 
mains for  us  to  see,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  women  workers, 
Avhether  they  combine  to  make  annual  earnings  adequate. 

SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION. 

To  determine  the  accuracy  of  the  impression  generally  prevalent 
as  to  the  high  reward  of  shoe  workers  and  to  measure  this  reward 
against  some  standard,  several  sources  of  infonnation  are  available, 
namely,  the  reports  of  the  State  bureau  of  statistics,  the  general 
statements  of  employees  and  of  wage  earners,  records  from  the  fac- 
tory pay  rolls,  and,  lastly,  interviews  with  workers  in  their  homes. 

As  to  the  published  statistics,  valuable  as  they  are  for  comparing 
one  industry  with  another,  they  are  admittedly  of  doubtful  accuracy 
in  the  case  of  any  special  industry.  The  reports  are  obtained  by 
sending  blank  forms  to  the  manufacturers  and  are  filled  in  by  some 
member  of  the  firm  or  of  the  office  force.  The  desire  to  magnify  the 
amount  of  business  and  to  stand  well  in  the  matter  of  wage  scale  tends 
to  exaggeration  of  numbers  and  expenditure,  while  in  many  cases 
factory  records  are  so  carelessly  kept  as  to  make  the  reports  largely 
guesswork.  These  statements  are  chiefly  useful  in  giving  knowledge 
of  general  conditions  and  for  comparisons  among  the  several  indus- 
tries or  with  reports  of  previous  years.  The  statements,  too,  of  fac- 
tory owners,  officials,  managers,  and  foremen  only  in  exceptional  in- 
stances afford  reliable  data  for  the  details  of  wages  and  earnings. 
Their  estimates  may  or  may  not  come  close  to  the  facts.  A  source 
of  information  that  will  naturally  first  occur  to  the  inquirer  is  the 
58 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTEY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  59 


worker  himself.  It  is,  however,  a  common  experience  in  industrial 
research  to  find  that  where  no  written  record  is  kept  the  worker  is  but 
vaguely  aware  of  the  exact  amount  of  his  earnings  for  any  long  period 
of  time.  The  amounts,  for  reasons  that  will  suggest  themselves,  are 
under  or  over  stated.  Real  accuracy  can  be  secured  only  by  the 
laborious  copying  of  well-kept  pay  rolls,  in  which  the  name  and 
special  occupation  of  each  worker  is  stated,  with  the  amount  of 
weekly  earnings  paid. 

WAGES   AND   EARNINGS   AS   SHOWN   BY  RETURNS   OF 
MANUFACTURERS. 

While  the  pay  rolls  must  be  the  final  criterion  in  this  study,  it  will 
help,  nevertheless,  in  the  discussion  of  earnings  in  the  shoe  industry 
to  make  some  comparisons  and  estimates  based  on  the  returns  made 
by  manufacturers  to  the  State  bureau  of  statistics.  For  the  purpose 
of  such  a  comparison,  in  Table  14  are  given  11  Massachusetts 
industries  employing  over  2,500  adult  women,  with  the  number 
and  per  cent  of  men,  women,  and  minors  and  the  wages  they 
received.  Unfortunately  the  State  bureau  does  not  give  the  average 
weekly  and  annual  wage  for  the  three  classes  of  wage  earners  sepa- 
rately. This  was  learned  for  special  groups  from  other  sources  and 
will  be  quoted  later. 

Table  14.— COMPARISON  OF  CHIEF  MASSACHUSETTS  INDUSTRIES  AS  TO  NUMBER  OF 
MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  MINORS  EMPLOYED  AND  THEIR  WAGES. 


Workers  and  wages  in  industry  specified. 

Industry. 

Persons  employed, 
1911.1 

Average 
wage  for 

ending 
Dec.  16, 

1911.2 

Average 
wage  for 

111 
workers 
for  week 
ending 
Dec.  16, 
1911. 

Average  annual 

earnings  for  all 

workers. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

1910." 

1911.< 

1.  Cotton  goods: 

Men 

53,826 
44,386 
13,793 

48.1 
38.6 
13.3 

$9.83 
7.91 
5.92 

Women 

Minors 

Total 

112,005 

100.0 

$8.59 

$412.09 

$407  80 

2.  Boots  and  shoes: 

52,980 
26,875 
6,038 

61.7 

31.3 

7.0 

15.17 

10.39 

•   6.43 

Women 

Minors 

Total                      -   . 

85,893 

100.0 

13.06 

586.64 

594  15 

1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manufactures, 
1911,  pp.  90-133. 

2  The  average  wage  was  secured  from  the  classified  wages  for  men,  women,  and  children  by  taking  the 
mid- value  in  each  class  group  as  the  average  wage  and  multiplj^ing  it  by  the  number  of  wage  earners  in 
that  group.  The  sum  of  the  total  earnings  thus  obtained  for  each  class  was  then  divided  by  the  total  num- 
ber of  wage  earners  in  that  class,  and  the  result  was  regarded  as  the  average  wage.  In  the  case  of  the 
group  "  Under  $3,"  $1  was  used  as  the  lower  limit,  making  a  mid-value  of  $2,  and  in  the  "$25  and  over" 
group,  $25  was  taken  as  the  value,  the  personal  statements  obtained  from  the  women  indicating  that 
the  number  in  this  industry  receiving  more  than  $25  was  too  small  to  justify  the  use  of  a  greater  value 
than  $25. 

3  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-fifth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manufactures 
1910,  pp.  1-12. 

*Idem,  1911,  pp.  1-12. 


60 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


TABLE  14.— COMPARISON   OF   CHIEF   MASSACHUSETTS  INDUSTRIES   AS   TO    NUMBER 
OF  MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  MINORS  EMPLOYED  AND  THEIR  WAGES -Concluded. 


i 

Workers  and  wages  in  industry  specified. 

Industry. 

Persons  employed, 

Average 

wage  for 

week 

ending 

Dec.  16, 

1911.1 

Average 
wage  for 

111 
workers 
for  week 
ending 
Dec.  16, 
1911. 

Average  annual 

earnings  for  all 

workers. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

1910.1 

1911.1 

3.  Woolen  and  worsted  goods: 

Men       

28,689 

17,958 

6,088 

54.2 
30.1 

$11.20 

Minors 

15.7  I          6.21 

Total                                    

52,735 

100.0 

S9.73 

0) 

$460. 17 

4.  Electric  machinery  and  supplies: 

Men       

13,884 
2,768 
1,872 

75.0 
14.9 
10.1 

14.47 
8.36 

Minors                              -                 -   - 

Total                      •-- 

18,524 

100.0 

12.75 

$600.20 

605.08 

6.  Paper  and  wood  pulp: 

9,153 

4,338 

567 

65.1 

30.9 

4.0 

12.48 
7.13 
6.63 

Women         

Minors 

Total                     

14,058 

100.0 

10.59 

513. 47 

519. 13 



6.  Hosiery  and  knit  goods: 

2,445 
5,460 
1,433 

26.2 
58.5 
15.3 

11.54 

7.87 
6.12 

Minors  

Total                    

9,338 

100.0 

8.56 

396.20 

395. 10 

7.  Boots  and  shoes,  rubber: 

Men      

4,430 

3,173 

503 

54.6 

39.1 

6.3 

12.90 
9.39 
6.19 

'^''omen     -• -- .- 

Minors                       

Total            -        

8,106 

100.0 

11.11 

509.99 

479.89 

8.  Confectionery: 

Men 

1,540 
3,412 
1,901 

22.5 
49.8 
27.7 

12.08 
6.70 
4.73 

Women 

Minors 

Total                     

6,853 

100.0 

7.37 

346.07 

348.  37 

9.  Clothing,  women's: 

Men                                       

1,254 

4,032 

359 

22.2 
71.4 

0.4 

16.63 
8.55 
5.01 

MiTinrtj                                                 .... 

Total                  

5,645 

100.0 

10.12 

456.09 

469.  61 

10.  Clothing,  men's: 

Men                           .          

2,461 

2,785 
154 

45.6 

51.6 

2.8 

14.94 
7.93 
5.31 

Minors          

Total          

5  400  !        100.  n 

11.05 

511. 12 

605.01 

11.  Hats,  straw: 

Men     

1,239 

2,563 

92 

31.8 
65.8 
2.4 

14.07 

11.63 

6.52 

Women                              .  . 

Minors 

Total 

3,894 

100.0 

12.29 

550.06 

569.  74 

1  See  p.  59  for  notes  to  these  columns. 

With  due  allowance  for  error  in  the  returns  several  significant 
facts  are  brought  out  by  this  comparison.  In  average  annual 
earnings  for  all  Avage  earners  electric  machinery  and  supplies  in 
1910  ran  ccnsiderably  ahead  of  the  boot  and  shoe  industry,  a  differ- 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN. 


61 


ence  lessened  in  1911;  in  average  weekly  wage  for  all  earners  boots 
and  shoes  were  also  slightly  behind.  A  glance  at  the  proportions  of 
the  three  classes  of  earners  makes  it  clear  that  the  higher  average  in 
the  electrical  works  is  due  to  the  small  per  cent  of  adult  women  em- 
ployed. Their  relatively  low  wage  does  not  pull  down  total  earn- 
ings to  the  boot  and  shoe  level,  since  the  75  per  cent  of  adult  men 
receive  a  weekly  Avage  almost  double  that  of  the  women.  In  the 
boot  and  shoe  industry  the  men's  average  wage  is  over  $1  per  week 
lower  than  in  the  electrical  works,  but  the  26,875  adult  women  mak- 
ing boots  and  shoes  receive  an  average  weekly  wage  about  50  cents 
more  than  their  2,768  sisters  dealing  with  electrical  machinery.  In 
both  of  these  industries  the  average  wage  for  all  wage  earners  runs 
ahead  of  that  in  the  others  listed.  In  the  case  of  the  boot  and  shoe 
workei*s  this  is  certainly  due  to  the  higher  wage  for  women.  So  far, 
then,  the  statistical  statement  confirms  the  common  assertion;  the 
boot  and  shoe  industry  does  pay  nearly  the  highest  annual  as  well 
as  the  highest  average  weekly  wage,  and  this  is  paid  to  over  85,000 
workers,  one-third  of  whom  are  women  and  girls. 

Averages  for  weekly  or  annual  earnings  may  be  misleading,  how- 
ever, as  related  to  the  general  body  of  workers.  A  few  highly  paid 
workers  at  the  top  of  the  scale  may  raise  the  whole  average  to  a 
figure  which  is  only  arithmetically  a  truth.  Further  analysis  of 
the  wage  scale  is  necessary  to  show  what  proportion  of  the  earners 
receive  the  specified  average  amounts. 

We  take,  then,  the  bureau's  table  of  classified  weekly  wages  for 
the  week  of  employment  of  greatest  number  of  wage  earners  in  1910, 
for  the  11  leading  industries,  and  classify  the  earnings  under  speci- 
fied amounts,  women  wage  earners  18  j^ears  and  over  alone  being 
considered. 

Table  15— WEEKLY  WAGES  OF  WOMEN  18  YEARS  OF  AGE  AND  OVER  IN  11  LEADING 
INDUSTRIES  IN  WEEK  OF  MAXIMUM  EMPLOYMENT,  1910,  BY  CUMULATIVE 
PERCENTAGES. 

Source:  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-fifth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manufiac- 

tures,  1910,  pp.  90-137.] 


Industry. 


Cotton  goods 

Boots  and  shoes,  leather 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods  i 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods 

Clothing,  women's 

Paper  and  wood  pulp 

Confectionery 

Boots  and  shoes,  rubber 

Clothing,  men's 

Boxes,  paper 

Electric  machinery  and  supplies. 


Per  cent  of  women  18  years  of  age  and  over  earning  specified 


Under 
$6 


17.6 
12.3 
12.8 
27.8 
19.8 
18.6 
47.2 
5.4 
21.1 
25.0 
19.6 


Under 

$S 


56.1 
31.2 
54.0 
62.8 
48.5 
76.8 
82.8 
23.6 
56.7 
56.0 
50.6 


Under 

$9 


75.2 
42.9 
69.1 
76.6 
63.2 
92.2 
91.7 
40.4 
71.6 
70.5 
73.9 


Under 
$10 


88.8 
56.9 
77.5 
87.3 
76.1 
96.6 
94.5 
77.0 
83.3 
83.4 
87.1 


$10  or 
over. 


n.2 
43.1 
22.5 
12.7 
23.9 
3.4 
5.5 
23.0 
16.7 
16.6 
12.9 


$12  or 
over. 


1.8 
25.8 
9.2 
3.4 
10.7 
.9 
1.5 
5.5 
5.6 
6.9 
2.7 


'  Given  in  the  State  report  for  1910  as  separate  industries. 


62 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


According  to  Table  15,  43  per  cent  of  the  women  in  shoe  factories 
earned  less  than  $9  for  the  busiest  week,  while  in  all  other  indus- 
tries, except  the  rubber  boots  and  shoes,  the  number  earning  under 
$9  varies  from  63  to  92  per  cent.  When  the  wage  reaches  $9  and  over, 
the  other  industries  are  far  behind  boots  and  shoes ;  only  57  per  cent 
of  its  women  workers  earned  under  $10,  while  43  per  cent  earned  $10 
or  over.  In  other  words,  about  11,500  women,  or  2  in  every  5,  earned 
$10  or  over  in  the  shoe  factories,  while  of  the  women  in  the 
cotton  mills  only  about  5,200,  or  1  in  10  or  11,  earned  $10  or  over. 
When  the  last  group  is  reached,  those  earning  $12  and  over,  the 
shoemaking  women  have  shot  far  ahead  in  the  race.  In  the  woolen 
and  worsted  factories  an  average  of  1  worker  in  10  made  $12  or' 
over  in  the  best-paid  week,  while  the  shoe  factories  paid  that  amount 
to  1  woman  in  every  4.  Further,  if  all  adult  women  earning  $15 
or  over  for  the  busy  week  are  grouped  we  find  among  shoe  workers 

I  in  every  10  in  this  class,  in  woolen  and  worsted  goods  and  in 
rubber  shoes  about  1  in  every  100,  while  in  the  cotton,  paper,  and 
electrical  supplies  factories  only  1  woman  in  500  made  $15  and 
over  in  the  busiest  week. 

Again,  as  concerns  a  proposed  "minimum  wage"  of  $9  a  week, 
we  take  the  average  wages  for  1911  as  given  and  group  them  for 

II  selected  industries,  as  in  Table  16,  in  order  to  show  the  proportion 
in  each  industry  earning  $9  and  over  as  well  as  $10  and  over. 


Table  16.— EARNINGS  IN  THE  THIRD  WEEK  OF  DECEMBER,  19n,  OF  WOMEN  18  YEARS 

OF   AGE    AND    OVER. 

(Source:  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manufac- 
tures, 1911.] 


Industry. 


Cotton  goods 

Boots  and  shoes,  leather 

Woolen  and  worsted  goods 

Electrical  machinery  and  supplies 

Paper  and  wood  pulp 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods 

Boots  and  shoes,  rubber 

Confectionery 

Clothing,  women's 

Clothing,  men's 

Hats,  straw 


Per  cent  of  women  18 

and  over 

eammg— 

$9  and 

$10  and 

over. 

over. 

27.4 

12.8 

61.4 

46.7 

33.4 

24.8 

31.4 

19.3 

5.5 

2.5 

29.3 

15.8 

62.4 

42.9 

7.9 

4.6 

27.4 

15.3 

27.5 

15.7 

67.8 

54.9 

Here  the  two  shoe  industries — leather  and  rubber — stand  as  leaders 
of  the  group  in  the  proportion  of  workers  receiving  the  minimum 
wage  of  $9 ;  the  workers  in  the  rubber  shoes  do,  indeed,  run  slightly 
ahead.  In  the  latter  trade,  however,  the  number  earning  $10  per 
week  and  over  represents  a  proportion  far  below  that  in  the  leather 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN. 


63 


shoe  industries.  Comment  on  the  significant  facts  made  clear  by 
this  table  need  not  here  be  amplified.  The  adult  woman  who  can 
exercise  free  choice  as  to  the  industry  she  will  enter  will  on  this 
showing,  if  a  wage  of  at  least  $9  be  her  main  object,  choose,  above 
all  others,  the  industry  making  rubber  shoes.  If  she  aim  at  $10  and 
over,  she  will  make  a  vigorous  effort  to  get  into  the  shoe  factory  and 
be  one  of  the  11,000  or  more  women  whose  skilled  work  commands 
this  w^age. 

This  study  of  the  published  statistics  furnished  by  the  heads  of 
various  industries  confirms  the  general  statement  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  the  wage  attainable  at  special  periods.  When  work  is  plenty  and 
the  factories  full  and  women  for  the  most  part  working  on  full  time, 
the  shoe  factory  pays  not  only  the  highest  wage  to  women,  but  pays 
this  wage  to  the  highest  number  of  workers. 

WAGES  AS  SHOWN  BY  PAY  ROLLS. 

The  real  value  of  the  results  obtained  by  study  of  published  sta- 
tistics must,  however,  be  judged  by  comparing  them  with  those  ob- 
tained by  other  methods  of  investigation.  The  State  statistics  give 
the  total  number  of  adult  women  in  shoe  factories  making  the  com- 
plete product  in  1911  as  27,593.  The  pay  rolls  copied  for  this  inves- 
tigation from  factories  in  the  chosen  centers  include  records  for 
4,400  women,  or  16  per  cent  of  the  total  number  employed  in  the 
State.  The  wages  from  these  pay  rolls  have  been  classified  for  three 
centers  and  are,  in  Table  17,  compared  with  those  for  the  whole 
State. 


Table  17.— ACTUAL  WEEKLY  WAGES  OF  WOMEN  18  YEARS  OF  AGE  AND  OVER  FOR 

WEEK  OF  EMPLOYMENT  OF  GREATEST  NUMBER. 

[Based  on  pay  rolls.] 

LYNN. 


Establishment. 

Niunber  and  per  cent  earning— 

Number  and  per  cent 
earning — 

Total. 

Under 
$6 

Under 
$8 

Under 
$9 

Under 
JIO 

Over 
$10 

Over 
112 

Over 
$15 

The  State  *    

12.3 

31.2 

42.9 

56.9 

43.1 

25.8 

10.3 

Factory  No.  1: 

Number 

91 
22.9 

85 
32.9 

30 
17.9 

10 
23.8 

153 
38.6 

133 
51.6 

59 
35.1 

14 
33.3 

187 
47.2 

153 
59.3 

84 
50.0 

18 
42.9 

223 
56.3 

190 
73.6 

98 
58.3 

20 

47.6 

173 
43.7 

68 
26.4 

70 
41.7 

22 
52.4 

124 
31.3 

39 
15.1 

38 
22.6 

10 
23.8 

44 

n.1 

12 

4.6 

13 

7.7 

5 
1L9 

396 

Per  cent 

Factory  No.  2: 

Number 

258 

Per  cent 

Factory  No.  3: 

Number 

168 

Per  cent 

Factory  No.  4: 

Number 

42 

Per  cent . 

The  4  factories: 

Number 

216 
25.0 

359 
41.5 

442 
51.1 

531 
6L5 

333 
38.5 

211 
24.4 

74 
8.6 

864 

Per  cent 

1  Figures  for  the  State  are  based  on  Twenty-fifth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manufactures, 
Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  1910,  p.  94. 


64 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


Table  17.— ACTUAL  WEEKLY  WAGES  OF  WOMEN  18  YEARS  OF  AGE  AND  OVER  FOR 
WEEK  OF  EMPLOYMENT  OF  GREATEST  NUMBER— Concluded. 

BROCKTON. 


Establishment. 

Number  and  per  cent  earning — 

Number  and  per  cent 
earning — 

Total. 

Under 

$6 

Under 

$8 

Under 
$9 

Under 
$10 

Over 
$10 

Over 

$12 

Over 

$15 

Factory  No.  1: 

27 
10.9 

.9 
5.4 

19 
10.3 

74 
29.9 

32 
19.2 

38 
20.6 

86 
34.8 

55 
32.9 

51 
27.9 

120 

48.6 

79 
47.3 

74 
40.2 

127 
51.4 

88 
52.7 

110 

59.8 

78 
31.6 

53 
31.7 

57 
30.8 

38 
15.3 

19 
11.4 

21 
11.4 

247 

Per  cent 

Factory  No.  2: 

Number 

167 

Per  cent     

Factory  No.  3: 

Number     . . 

184 

Per  cent 

The  3  factories: 

Number 

55 
9.2 

144 
24.1 

192 
32.1 

273 
45.7 

325 
54.3 

188 
31.4 

78 
13.0 

598 

Per  cent 

MARLBORO. 


Factory  No.  1: 

28 
25.7 

25 

8.1 

40 
21.9 

60 
55.0 

82 
26.5 

92 
50.5 

76 
69.7 

109 
35.2 

114 

62.6 

88 
80.7 

171 
55.2 

139 
76.4 

21 
19.3 

139 

44.8 

43 
23.6 

6 
5.5 

68 
21.9 

8 
4.4 

2 

1.8 

16 
5.2 

1 
0.5 

109 

Per  cent 

Factory  No.  2: 

Number 

310 

Per  cent 

Factory  No.  3: 

Number              

182 

The  3  factories: 

Number 

93 
15.5 

234 
38.9 

299 
49.7 

398 
66.2 

203 
33.8 

82 
13.6 

29 

4.8 

601 

Per  cent 

The  records  show  for  the  several  localities  a  wide  difference  in  the 
distribution  of  wage  groups,  a  difference  to  be  discussed  later.  Our 
present  interest  is  in  the  fact  that  the  proportions  earning  small 
wages,  namely,  less  than  $6  or  $8  or  $9  per  week,  are  in  Lynn  and 
Marlboro  larger  than  those  given  in  the  statistics  for  the  State. 
The  pay  rolls  for  Brockton  represent  nearly  18  per  cent  of  the  total 
number  of  female  employees  in  that  town,  those  for  Lynn  over  15 
per  cent,  and  those  for  Marlboro  27  per  cent.  The  wages  paid  in  the 
scattered  inland  towns  are  lower  than  those  of  the  four  centers  in- 
vestigated, as  well  as  of  all  the  larger  towns  with  the  exception  of 
Haverhill.  It  is  possible  that  the  actual  weekly  earnings  for  the 
maximum  week  are  overstated  in  the  reports  made  to  the  State. 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  WORKERS  AND  METHODS  OF  PAYMENT. 

In  any  shoe  factory  where  the  work  is  really  organized  there  are 
found  two  classes  of  workers  concerned  in  the  actual  product.  These 
are  the  handworkers  and  the  machine  operators.  "  Day  workers  "  or 
"  floor  w^orkers"  as  they  are  variously  called,  a  few  of  whom  are  in  each 
department  of  large  factories,  are  boys  and  girls  usually  under  16 
years  old.  They  do  a  variety  of  odd  jobs,  as  carr3ang  orders  or  car- 
rying stock  to  and  from  the  machines,  and  though  usually  classed 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTEY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOB   WOMEN.  65 

with  the  handworkers  the}'^  really  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  mak- 
ing of  a  shoe  than  the  bootblack  on  the  corner.  Outside  of  these 
classes  are  the  usual  wage  or  salary  earning  employees,  such  as 
drivers,  SAveepers,  and  machinists  among  the  men,  and  the  office  and 
superintending  force  made  up  of  both  men  and  women.  Their  duties 
and  earnings  differ  little  from  those  prevailing  in  any  organized  in- 
dustry and  will  not  here  be  considered. 

As  there  are  two  classes  of  workers  in  the  making  of  a  shoe,  so 
there  are  two  methods  of  paying  for  the  work,  namely,  by  time  and 
by  piece.  AVere  each  used  for  one  class  of  workers  only,  considera- 
tion of  the  wage  question  would  be  greatly  simplified.  As  a  fact, 
piece  pa^-ment  for  both  classes  is  the  general  method,  the  excep- 
tions to  which  are  due  to  special  conditions  relating  to  the  work. 
Beginners  on  table  work  or  on  cementing  and  blacking  processes  are 
usually  put  on  payment  by  the  hour,  as  otherwise  their  scanty  earn- 
ings would  be  too  discouraging.  If,  however,  the  beginner  is  seen 
loitering,  she  is  promptly  put  on  a  j^iece-rate  basis.  Time  payment 
is  also  made  in  cases  where  quality  rather  than  quantity  is  of  prime 
import.  The  men  cutters  in  the  best-managed  shops  w^ork  on  time,  as 
the  hurried  placing  of  patterns  w^ould  mean  great  waste.  In  the  stitch- 
ing rooui  the  operator  making  sample  shoes  is  paid  by  time,  so  in  the 
packing  room  is  the  w^oman  Avho  gives  the  shoe  a  final  inspection.  In 
both  cases  mistakes  due  to  haste  would  be  fatal  to  the  reputation  of 
the  firm.  Among  the  handworlj:ers  the  proportion  paid  by  time,  as 
learned  from  the  pay  rolls  copied  for  this  investigation,  is  usually  less 
than  20  per  cent,  but  in  tw^o  or  three  factories  it  rims  as  high  as  30  to 
40  per  cent  and  over.  This  variance  is  due  less  to  local  custom  than 
to  the  (juality  or  character  of  the  product. 

HANDWORKERS  AND  THEIR  WAGES. 

The  work  of  the  majority  of  handworkers  does  not  differ  in  its 
natuie  from  the  strictly  manual  work  done  in  other  industries. 
Marking,  matching  pieces,  tying  or  cutting  threads,  pasting,  labeling, 
cleaning,  etc.,  are  also  done  in  factories  making  boxes,  paper  goods, 
corsets,  and  many  other  kinds  of  products.  In  the  actual  move- 
ments and  the  amount  of  intelligence  required,  the  w^ork  in  these 
othei*  factories  is  not  dissimilar  to  that  done  in  shoe  shops,  nor  is  the 
term  "  unskilled,"  usually  applied  to  handwork,  correct,  except  in  a 
limited  sense.  In  the  shoe  factor3%  as  elsewhere,  manual  operations 
require  accuracy  of  eye  and  touch,  precision  and  dexterity  of  han- 
dling, together  with  the  acquirement  of  a  certain  rate  of  speed  which 
practice  must  render  uniform.  These  qualities  wdiere  really  devel- 
oped make  the  worker  "  skilled  •'  in  as  true  a  sense  if  not  to  the  same 
degree  as  the  w'ood  carver  or  the  stonemason. 

.^SSl"— Bull.  ISO— 15 5 


66  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU   OP    LABOB   STATISTICS. 

Among  the  handworkers  in  the  shoe  factories,  the  least  skilled 
are  those  found  in  the  sole-leather  department,  if  there  is  one.  Their 
work,  described  in  Chapter  III,  requires  little  judgment  and  less  dex- 
terity, while  the  pieces  of  leather  they  handle  are  of  less  value  than 
those  in  the  workroom  above.  This  kind  of  handwork  is  paid  for, 
therefore,  at  rates  lower  than  those  prevailing  in  the  packing  or 
stitching  room.  The  foreign  women  introduced  into  the  sole-leather 
dej)artment  of  late  years  will  work  for  this  lower  wage  until  they 
are  partly  "Americanized."  They  are  constantly  leaving  for  better 
work  or  to  enter  other  factories,  but  others  more  newly  "  over  "  are 
ready  to  take  their  places.  Heel  builders  are  paid  by  the  piece  and 
earn  the  highest  wage  given  in  the  sole-leather  department;  among 
the  stead}^  and  continuous  workers  $10  or  $12  per  week  is  a  common 
wage. 

In  the  packing  department  the  handworkers  earn  higher  wages, 
equal  in  many  cases  to  those  of  machine  operators.  It  is  the  expe- 
rienced handworkers  in  the  packing  and  stitching  rooms  who  help 
to  make  up  the  9  or  10  per  cent  earning  $9  or  $10,  and  the  smaller 
proportion  earning  as  high  as  $15  a  week.  They  deal  with  the 
product  in  its  most  valuable  stage  of  practical  completion,  and  upon 
their  care  depends  its  final  quality. 

In  general,  the  average  wage  of  the  handworkers  runs  below  that 
of  the  machine  operator,  though  this  difference  varies  with  locality 
and  type  of  product.  As  compared  with  wages  paid  for  handwork 
in  other  industries,  the  scale  in  the  shoe  factories  is  much  higher. 
This  fact  seems  to  be  related  to  certain  conditions  peculiar  to  the 
industry.  Among  these  is  the  value  of  the  individual  parts  handled 
by  the  operator.  In  some  industries  spoiling  a  certain  proportion  of 
the  material  is  not  a  serious  loss ;  in  the  shoe  industry  it  is,  and,  there- 
fore, to  handle  the  pieces,  better  skill  and  brains  must  be  hired. 
These  command  their  price.  Again,  the  handwork  is  closely  related 
to  the  machine  work,  so  that  in  the  stitching  room  especially,  the  two 
classes  of  workers  are  in  constant  cooperation.  The  general  scale 
of  stitching-room  prices  comprehends  piece  operations,  whether  done 
by  machine  or  hand. 

Two  facts  of  importance  in  relation  to  women  handworkers  in 
shoe  factories  should  be  noted:  First,  the  work  is  not  for  the  most 
part  unskilled,  but  demands  the  qualities  essential  in  the  machine 
operator;  second,  the  wage  for  steady  adult  handworkers,  while 
below  that  of  the  machine  operators,  is,  on  the  whole,  higher  than 
that  earned  for  work  of  a  similar  kind  in  other  industries. 

Comparison  between  average  wages  of  the  two  classes  of  workers 
for  one  large  factory  in  each  of  the  several  localities  is  given  in 
Table  18. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOE  WOMEN. 


67 


Tahle   18. 


-AVERAGE   WEEKLY  WAGES  OF  ADULT  HANDWORKERS  AND   MACHINE 
OPERATORS  WORKING  46  WEEKS  OR  MORE  IN  THE  YEAR. 


[Based  od 

pay  rolls  of  4  factories.] 

Handworkers. 

Machine  operators. 

One  large  factory  in— 

Num- 
ber. 

Aver- 
age 
wage. 

Number  and  per  cent 
earning — 

Num- 
ber. 

Aver- 
age 
wage. 

Number  and  per  cent 
earning— 

$9  and  over. 

$10  and  over. 

$9  and  over. 

SIO  and  over. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Num- 
ber. 

Per 
cent. 

Brockton 

24 
93 
60 
62 

S9.70 
8.00 
7.92 
7.82 

13 

40 
19 
16 

54.2 
43.0 
31.7 
25.8 

9 
37 
11 
10 

37.5 
39.7 
18.3 
16.1 

63 
147 
131 
100 

$10.48 
9.50 
8.76 
8.62 

52 
98 
66 
47 

82.5 
66.7 
50.4 
47.0 

35 
79 
43 
27 

55.5 

Lvnn  

53.7 

Marlboro 

32.8 

Chelsea 

27.0 

The  steadiness  with  which  the  women  dealt  with  in  this  table  are 
at  work  is  fair  evidence  that  they  are  responsible  workers  whom  the 
employers  desire  to  retain  even  through  the  slack  times.  It  is  reason- 
able, therefore,  to  suppose  that  their  wages  show  what  the  better 
grade  of  workers  in  each  class  may  receive.  The  handworkers  in 
every  case  earn  less  than  the  machine  operators,  but  the  difference 
ranges  from  78  cents  in  Brockton  to  $1.50  in  Lynn.  The  figures  for 
Lynn  are  exceptional ;  in  the  other  three  towns  the  difference  ranges 
only  from  78  to  84  cents,  the  smallest  difference  being  shown  in 
Brockton,  where  both  hand  and  machine  workers  have  the  highest 
earnings. 

With  regard  to  the  suggestion  of  a  minimum  wage  of  $9  a  week, 
it  is  noticeable  that  the  proportion  of  handworkers  who  earn  as 
much  or  more  than  $9  is  strikingly  small,  being  only  a  little  over 
half  in  Brockton  and  rimning  down  to  about  one-fourth  in  Chelsea. 
The  machine  operators  make  a  better  showing  in  this  respect,  but 
even  among  them  the  proportion  falling  below  $9  ranges  from  nearly 
one-fifth  to  over  one-half. 


MACHINE  OPERATORS   AND  THEIR  WAGES. 

If  the  processes  among  handworkers  in  the  shoe  factory  do  not 
differ  essentially  from  hand  processes  elsewhere,  the  contrary  is  true 
of  the  chief  work  in  the  stitching  room.  Only  so  far  as  it  is  stitching 
does  it  resemble  any  other  factory  work.  Otherwise  not  only  in  the 
material  and  the  machinery  but  in  the  great  variety  of  "  pieces,"  the 
stitching  of  shoes  involves  processes  not  only  peculiar  but  so  ex- 
tremely various  that  each  has  its  separate  valuation  on  the  price  list. 
Consideration  of  conditions  affecting  the  make-up  of  the  wage  must 
first  take  into  account  the  great  variety  in  operations  and  prices,  re- 
sulting from  the  modern  organization  of  shoemaking,  for  it  is  chiefly 


68 


BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 


this  that  makes  the  method  of  piece  payment  universal  in  the  indus- 
try and  inchisive  of  almost  its  entire  working  force. 

The  piece  prices  have  certain  relative  ratios  for  different  opera- 
tions, but  in  each  special  cnse  they  are  subject  to  a  constant  variation 
dependent  on  the  nature  and  value  of  the  product.  A  vamper,  for 
instance,  may  work  one  week  to  complete  an  order  demanding  vamps 
paid  for  at  the  rate  of  16  cents  per  dozen  pairs;  the  next  week  the 
order  may  call  for  vamps  worth  11  cents  n  dozen  pairs.  Various 
methods  are  used  to  fix  the  new  rate  demanded  by  a  new  cut  or  shape, 
among  Avhich  the  following  is  common:  A  skilled  or  "sample" 
stitcher,  who  can  stitch  all  parts  of  the  shoe,  is  given  the  vamping 
in  a  new  style  of  shoe  to  stitch  for  a  10-hour  day.  She  is  paid  the 
maximum  rate,  say,  25  cents  an  hour.  She  is  found  able  to  stitch 
200  pairs  in  10  hours,  or  20  pairs  in  one  hour.  It  is  clear  that  if  20 
pairs  are  worth  25  cents,  12  pairs  are  worth  15  cents,  and  the  latter 
is  fixed  as  the  rate.  The  piece  rate  is,  then,  at  bottom,  a  payment  for 
so  much  time.  Though  some  of  the  operatoi*s  will  stitch  the  20  pairs 
of  vamps,  or  even  more,  in  an  hour,  it  is  evident  that  the  majority 
will  not  attain  the  speed  of  the  expert  stitcher.  This  is  especially 
true  of  operations  done  by  the  less  experienced.  Were  the  j^iece  price 
translated  into  a  time  rate,  it  would  seldom,  indeed,  reach  25  cents 
an  hour.  The  piece  rate  is  usually  per  dozen  pairs  of  shoes,  except 
for  making  buttonholes  and  putting  on  buttons,  which  are  paid  for 
by  the  hundred.  The  variety  of  operations  and  of  piece  prices  are 
illustrated  below  by  sample  schedules  taken  from  factory  pay  rolls. 
In  cases  where  the  product  shows  great  variety,  the  diversity  in  the 
scale  of  piece  prices  becomes  bewildering.  It  reaches  the  extreme 
point  in  some  of  the  Lynn  factories,  where  men's,  women's,  youths', 
misses',  children's,  and  infants'  shoes  of  various  materials  and  styles 
are  all  made  imder  one  roof.  The  result  is  a  complex  schedule  of 
payment  for  each  operation. 

Table  19.— NUMBER  OF  PRICES  PREVAILING  IN  SHOEMAKING  OPERATIONS  PAID  BY 

THE  PIECE. 


Ojterations. 

Number 
of  prices. 

Oi)e  rations. 

Number 
of  prices. 

Hand  operations: 

4 
1 
3 
3 
3 
7 
6 
7 
2 
4 

Machine  operations— Concluded . 

Buttonholing 

4 

Button  sewing 

Closine; 

5 

Eyeleting 

3 

0 

Finishing.. 

Pressing 

3 

Marking 

Skiving 

5 

Packing 

Staving 

6 

Pressing 

Toe  closing 

2 

Rubbing 

Fancy  stitching 

2 

Trimming 

Stay  stitching 

6 

Tracing 

5 

Strap  stitching 

3 

Tying  ends 

2 
3 

Tip  stitching 

6 

Machine  operations: 
Barring. 

6 

Top  stitching  ...           .     . 

8 

iiackstaying 

9 

11 

Binding |                9 

Zigzagging 

3 

Button  machine 

2 

BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A   VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN. 


69 


Table  2o.— PIECE  PRICES  PAID  FOR  OPERATIONS  ON  DIFFERENT  GRADES  OF  SHOES 

IN  THE  SAME  FACTORY. 


Operation. 


Closing  seams: 

1  seam,  leather 

2  seams,  leather 

2  scams,  cloth 

2  seams,  velvet 

"  Ooze ' '  button  shoes . . . 

Top  stitching: 

Button  shoes 

Polish  shoes 

Button  oxfords 

Button  oxfords,  2  straps. 
Button  oxfords,  3  straps. 
Pumps 


Price 

per  dozen 

pairs. 


$0.07  ! 
.14  i 
.18 
.25 
.40 

,50 
.40 
.50 
.60 
.90 
1.20 


Operation. 


Staying: 

Button  shoes 

2-strap  velvet 

2-strap  satin 

2-strap  plain 

2-strap  velvet 

Vamping: 

Button  oxfords 

Flat  circular  vamp 

Flat  bluchcr 

Flat  blucher,  with  barrings 

Cylinder  button  with  close  row , 

Cylinder  button  with  overlap. . 


Price 
per  dozen 


$0.08 
.15 
.18 
.20 
.25 

.50 
.75 
.90 
.20 
1.20 
2.10 


At  first  sight  it  would  seem  that  the  stitcher  doing  the  tops  of 
pumps  at  $1.20  per  dozen  pairs  would  make  a  much  higher  wage 
than  her  neighbor  sewing  the  tops  of  button  shoes  at  50  cents  per 
dozen  pairs.  She  probably  does  make  and  deserve  more,  as  the  finest 
work  is  given  to  the  expert  stitcher  who  will  not  spoil  it.  Neverthe- 
less the  difference  in  rate  represents  pretty  closely  a  difference  in 
the  amount  of  time  required,  and  the  two  variations  tend  to  create 
a  balance  in  the  main  satisfactory  to  each  worker.  Unusual  skill  has 
value  always  difficult  to  estimate ;  it  is  not  easy  to  decide  whether  this 
is  reall}'  rewarded  by  the  piece  method  of  payment. 

Not  only  is  there  great  variance  in  the  scale  of  prices  for  the  dif- 
ferent varieties  of  each  process,  but  the  occurrence  of  a  change  is 
usually  impossible  to  foresee.  The  stitcher  seldom  knows  what  va- 
riety of  her  special  operation  she  will  be  given  in  a  succeeding  month 
or  even  week.  Hence,  she  can  not  know  her  rate  of  payment.  The 
finer  her  work  and  the  better  the  grade  of  shoe,  the  more  pronounced 
is  this  uncertainty.  Yet  this  uncertain  piece  price  is  the  most  im- 
portant factor  at  the  basis  of  her  wage.  How  much  must  be  done  at 
a  specified  rate  in  selected  operations  in  order  to  make  $10  a  week 
is  shown  from  the  pay-roll  records  of  a  large  factory,  as  given  in 
Table  21. 


Table  21. 


PIECE  RATES  IN  A  LYNN  FACTORY  WITH  NUMBER  OF  PIECES  HANDLED 
TO  MAKE  $10  PER  WEEK. 


O  iteration. 


Backstaying per  do7.on  pairs. . 

Barring.' do 

Beading do 

Closing  on do 

Foxing  stitching do 

Lining  stitching do 

Perforating do 

Second-ro  .V  stitching do 

Tip  stitching ' do 

Tongue  stitching do 

Vam])ing do 

Buttonlioling per  hundred  i^airs. . 

Eyeleting do 


Rate. 


High  rate.  Low  rate 


$0.10 
.02 
.04 
.  03  »- 
.14 
.06 
.07 
.07 
.03 
.05 
.17 
.04 
.03 


$0,044 
.01" 
.02 
.03 
.08 
.02 
.03i 
.02 
.03 
.03 
.10 
.04 
.01 


Number  pieces  handled 
at— 


High  rate.     Low  rate. 


2,400 
12, 000 
6, 000 
6,840 
1,704 
4.000 
31420 
3,420 
7,992 
4,.S00 
1,392 
25, 000 
66.G66 


5,328 

24,000 

12,000 

7,992 

3,000 

12,000 

6,840 

12,000 

7,992 

7,992 

2,400 

25.000 

100,000 


70  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR  STATISTICS. 

Piece  prices  show  bewildering  variety  not  only  for  operations  in 
the  same  factory,  but  for  work,  apparently  of  a  similar  sort,  done 
in  different  factories.  The  similarity  is  usually  apparent  only; 
a  slight  difference  of  cut  in  the  shoe  means  a  few  stitches  more 
or  less,  and  where  stitches  are  literally  counted,  the  count  affects 
the  price.  Comparison  between  factories  is,  therefore,  futile  unless 
both  turn  out  practically  the  same  product  made  by  precisely  the 
same  processes.    Such  an  identity  we  have  not  found. 

A  second  uncertain  element  in  the  w^age  is  the  behavior  of  the 
machine  which,  how^ever  wonderfully  adapted  to  the  business  in 
hand,  has  a  soulless  insensibility  to  the  exigencies  of  the  work  or 
the  economic  need  of  the  worker.  The  Singer  sewing  machine  used 
is  heavy  and  strong  in  its  framework,  but  necessarily  delicate  in  the 
parts  that,  do  the  stitching ;  the  Eeece  buttonhole  machine  has  a  com- 
plicated mechanism  liable  to  disarrangement.  Care  and  manage- 
ment of  the  machine  are  part  of  the  daily  task,  but  the  time  taken 
for  repairs  is  not  paid  for.  Occasionally  a  serious  breakdown  occurs; 
if,  then,  there  is  no  similar  machine  in  the  room  for  her  to  use,  the 
operator's  work  is  stopped  for  the  day,  possibly  for  two  or  three 
days.  It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  factory  that  such  loss  of  time  should 
be  minimized,  but  all  the  machines  can  not  be  kept  in  perpetual 
running  order,  even  under  the  best  management.  The  cessation  of 
payment  on  the  stoppage  of  the  machine  is  essentially  a  penalty 
w^hich  the  operator  pays,  sometimes  justly  for  carelessness,  but  as 
frequently  quite  undeserved.  The  loss  it  entails  falls  less  frequently 
on  the  expert  operator,  yet  no  operator  is  exempt. 

A  third  factor  influencing  the  amount  of  wage  for  both  hand  and 
machine  workers  is  the  dependence  of  one  department  upon  another. 
The  lasters  depend  upon  the  stitchers,  the  stitchers  upon  the  cutters, 
the  cutters  upon  the  stock  room,  and  the  stock  room  waits  to  get  out 
its  leather  in  accordance  with  the  order  tickets  from  the  office. 
However  methodical  may  be  the  management,  there  are  days  when 
one  department  must  wait  upon  another,  or  one  lot  of  material  be 
finished  before  another  is  on  hand.  No  worker  is  sure  she  will  have 
work  for  all  the  hours  in  any  one  day ;  in  fact,  w^omen  are  not  seldom 
seen  reading  or  sewing  while  they  wait  for  material  to  be  supplied. 

There  is,  fourth,  the  deduction  of  fines  on  account  of  spoiled  cr  im- 
perfect work.  The  skilled  worker  will  be  less  affected  by  loss  of  this 
sort,  nevertheless  she  will  occasionally  suffer  from  it.  Just  the  amount 
per  week  or  month  nibbled  from  the  wages  by  fines  is  difficult  to  de- 
termine for  any  special  worker.  In  most  factories  the  simple  calcu- 
lation of  amount  due,  less  the  fines,  is  recorded  on  the  pay  roll,  so 
that  the  actual  wage  is  uncertain.  Women  privately  interrogated 
as  to  their  wage  will  seldom  mention  fines,  unless  to  complain  of 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A   VOCATION   FOR  WOMEN. 


71 


some  special  grievance.  In  the  case  of  time  workers  payment  is  made 
by  the  hour  or  fraction  thereof,  so  that  fines  for  tardiness  are  not 
noted  as  such.  In  all  factories  fines  are  imposed  for  imperfect  work, 
and  these  probably  more  than  meet  the  wages  of  the  fixers  and 
repairers  in  the  packing  room. 

CAUSES  FOR  VARIATION  IN  EARNINGS. 


Among  the  conditions  of  the  work  itself  the  foregoing  most 
strongly  affect  the  wage.  The  amount  of  work  on  hand  at  different 
seasons,  although  it  also  affects  the  weekly  wage,  is  more  justly 
classed  wdth  the  conditions  upon  which  the  annual  earnings  depend. 
It  is  evident  from  the  data  given  that  wages  per  week,  even  in  the 
months  of  maximum  employment,  fluctuate  to  a  surprising  extent. 
Skilled,  steady,  and  regular  though  the  operator  may  be,  the  actual 
payment  per  week  seldom  touchas  the  amount  that,  given  all  condi- 
tions favorable,  is  the  potential  wage.  The  tables  below  are  illus- 
trative of  wage  variation.  They  were  chosen  for  a  period  of  indus- 
trial activity  and  the  workers  were  among  the  steadiest  found  on  the 
pay  roll. 

Table  22.— VARIATIONS  IN  WAGES  OF  HANDWORKERS. 

[Based  on  pay  rolls.] 

1.    Three  months'  earnings  for  two  women  in  the  same  factory,  doing  "  turning." 


Period. 

Earnings  in- 

August. 

September. 

October. 

A's  earnings: 

First  week 

$6.23 
6.65 
6.65 
7.39 
5.32 

$5.88 
6.93 
6.6S 
4.13 

$3.15 

4.76 

Third  week                 ....             .  . 

7.21 

5.37 

Fifth  week       

Average  weekly  earnings 

6.45 

5.90 

6.12 

B's  earnings: 

First  week     

13.44 
8.19 
.14 

11.13 
12.11 
10.71 
6.16 

7.21 

Second  week 

6.65 

Third  week 

12.67 

Fourth  week 

9. 10 

Fifth  week 

9.52 

Average  weekly  earnings 

6.26 

10.03 

8.91 

72 


BULLETIX    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 


Table   22. — VARIATIONS    IN    WA(iES    OF    HANDWORKERS— Concluded. 
2.    Three  months'  earnings  for  two  women  in  the  same  factory,  doing  "  crippling." 


January. 

February. 

March. 

Period. 

Num- 
ber of 
days 
worked. 

Earn- 
ings. 

Num- 
ber of 
days 
worked. 

Earn- 
ings. 

Num- 
ber of 
days 
worked. 

Earn- 
ings. 

C's  earnings: 

First  week 

6 
6 
6 
6 
6 

$6.29 
6.02 
7.55 
7.57 
6.56 

6 
6 
6 
5 

$6.  56 
7.43 
7.47 
5.90 

0 
6 
6 
6 

$6  88 

Second  week 

7  50 

Third  week 

7.50 

Fourth  week 

7  50 

Fifth  week 

Average  w^eekly  earnings 

6.79 
1.13 

;::::::: 

6.S4 
1.16 

7.35 

Average  daily  earnings 

1.22 

I)'s  earnings: 

Firstweek 

6 
6 
6 
6 
6 

9.85 
9.59 
9.59 
9.59 
9.59 

I 

6 

9.59 
9.  .59 
9.50 
6.33 

6 

5i 
6 
6 

8  71 

Second  week 

8  43 

Third  week 

9  23 

Fourth  week 

9  50 

Fifth  week 

Average  weekly  earnings 

9.64 
1.61 

8.75 
1.46 

:::::::: 

8.97 

Average  daily  earnmgs. 

1  53 

A,  B,  C,  and  D  were  handworkers  employed  in  the  same  factory. 
For  C  and  D  the  earnings  are  shown  for  the  period  of  high  activ- 
ity, from  January  through  March ;  for  A  and  B,  from  August,  usually 
the  month  of  recovery  after  a  dull  season,  through  October.  The 
number  of  days  worked  by  A  and  B  each  week  was  not  stated  on 
the  pay  roll.  Two  legal  holidays,  however,  made  A's  earnings  low  in 
the  first  weeks  of  September  and  October.  B,  on  the  contrary,  earned 
$11.13,  a  wage  above  her  average,  in  the  holiday  week  of  September. 
Irrespective  of  holidays,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  fourth  week  of 
September  was  a  low  week  for  both;  there  Avas  not  full  work  to  be 
had.  The  earnings  of  C  and  D  show  far  more  regularity,  though 
even  here  the  difference  of  nearly  $1  between  D's  average  earnings 
per  week  for  January  and  February  is  a  serious  matter  to  one  whose 
expenses  must  be  closely  fitted  to  earnings.  Nor  did  D's  average 
Avage  for  March  make  up  the  loss  in  February.  The  pay  roll  does 
not  show^  whether  the  loss  of  half  a  day  in  March  was  due  to  the 
worker's  choice  or  to  lack  of  Avork. 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTRY   AS   A   VOCATION    FOE    WOMEN. 


73 


Table  2.3.— VARIATIONS  IN  WA0E3  OF  MACHINE  OPERATORS  AYORKING  EVERY  WEEK 

FOR  THREE  MONTHS. 


January. 

February. 

March. 

reriod. 

Num- 
ber of 
days 
worked. 

Earn- 
ings. 

Num- 
ber of 
daj'S 
worked. 

Earn- 
ings. 

Num- 
ber of 
days 
worked. 

Earn- 
ings. 

E's  earnings  (a  vamper,  42  years  old): 
First  week 

6 
5 
6 
5 
6 

114.50 
11.87 
16.00 
9.50 
15.00 

6 
6 
5 
6 

$14.15 
14.78 
12.36 
15.96 

6 
6 
6 
6 

113  11 

iSecond  week 

16.66 

Third  week 

18.04 

Fourth  week 

15.88 

Fifth  week 

13.38 
2.39 

'..'...'.'.'. 

14.31 

2.48 

15.92 

Average  dailv  earnings    .... 

2  65 

F"s  earntags  (a  tip  stitcher,  24  vears  old"*: 
First  week ' '. . .  . 

1 

6 
6 

5.56 
7.56 
8.12 
7.27 
7.53 

6 
6 

I' 

7.84 
7.67 
1.45 
5.21 

6 
6 
6 
6 

6.52 

Second  week 

7  63 

Third  week 

8.39 

Fourth  week 

6.84 

F  i  f  th  wee  k 

.... 

Average  weekly  earnings 

7.21 
1.24 

5.54 
1.20 

7.35 

Average  daily  earnings 

1.23 

G's  earnings  (a  buttonhole  oi)erator): 

First  week 

6 
6 
6 
6 

14.53 
10.88 
9.93 
16.01 

6 
6 
6 
6 

15.06 
14.12 
11.45 
11.65 

6 
6 
6 
6 

9.71 

Second  week 

15.77 

Third  week : 

18  10 

Fourth  week 

20.00 

Average  weekly  earnings 

12.84 
2.14 

1     13.07 

'      2.17 



15.90 

Average  daily  earnings  . 

2.65 

In  Table  23  E  and  F  were  workers  in  the  same  factory ;  G  was  from 
a  different  locality.  The  period  chosen  was  again  one  of  high  activity 
in  both  factories,  a  public  holiday  occurred  but  once  in  the  three 
months,  and  the  three  operators  were  at  work  every  week.  The 
average  weekly  wage  for  E  was  about  $2.50  more  in  March  than  in 
January.  This  was  not  merely  because  she  lost  two  days  in  January 
and  none  in  March,  but  because  the  two  weeks  in  March  showing 
highest  earnings  were  weeks  of  most  favorable  industrial  conditions. 
What  wage  should  E  reasonably  have  expected  if  all  her  weeks 
showed  similar  conditions?  Since  in  three  weeks  of  the  period  she 
earned  about  $16,  it  is  not  unfair  to  take  that  as  representing  the 
v\'age  she  might  reasonably  have  expected,  since  in  a  week  of  unusual 
exertion  in  March  it  was  exceeded  by  $2.  For  January,  then,  her 
average  weekly  wage  was  more  than  $2.50  below  her  earning 
capacity;  in  February  $1.70  below,  and  in  March  nearly  approached 
it.  E  was  a  steady,  experienced  worker.  It  will  not  escape  notice 
that  she  worked  but  five  days  in  the  week  twice  in  January;  but  it 
was  not  absence  that  made  her  wage  below  her  earning  capacity  in 
5  other  weeks  out  of  the  13. 

F*s  wage  shows  much  more  variability,  but  this  is  not  wholly  due 
to  her  absences.  She  worked  all  the  working  days  of  March,  yet 
showed  a  difference  of  $1.87  between  hei'  lowest  and  highest  weekly 


74  BULLETIN   OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOE   STATISTICS. 

wage  for  that  month.  G,  who  worked  the  Keece  buttonhole  machine, 
earned  $10  more  in  her  best  week  than  in  her  worst,  and  both  oc- 
curred in  the  same  month.  Her  wage  of  $18  is  considerably  below 
her  highest,  but  how  seldom  she  earned  this  is  clear  at  a  glance.  What 
may  be  called  her  losses  per  week  range  from  $2  to  nearly  $9. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  even  among  the  steadiest  work- 
ers the  factors  forming  the  basis  of  the  wage  vary  so  greatly  from 
week  to  week  as  to  make  certainty  about  earnings  impossible.  F 
knows  she  will  earn  about  half  the  money  G  does,  and  that  is  prac- 
tically all  she  knows.  G  knows  that  when  work  is  abundant  and 
conditions  favorable  she  may  earn  as  much  as  $20  a  week,  but  that 
under  conditions  which  she  is  powerless  to  prevent  her  earnings  may 
sink  to  less  than  half  that  sum.  It  is  apparent  both  that  it  is  very 
difficult  for  the  worker  to  adjust  her  expenditures  to  her  earnings, 
and  that  it  is  practically  impossible  for  her  to  form  a  reliable  esti- 
mate of  what  her  yearly  income  is.  As  was  said  at  the  beginning 
of  the  chapter,  estimates  of  average  earnings,  whether  made  by  em- 
ployer or  employee,  are  apt  to  be  wide  of  the  mark  in  an  industry 
where  the  weekly  earnings  show  such  variation. 


CHAPTER  V.--ANNUAL  EARNINGS  OF  WOMEN  SHOE 

WORKERS. 

CONDITIONS   AFFECTING  EARNINGS. 

With  definite  data  on  hand  as  to  the  weekly  wage  of  individuals  or 
of  groups,  it  might  seem  logical  to  proceed  at  once  to  multiply  this 
wage  by  the  number  of  working  weeks  in  the  year  and  so  obtain  the 
annual  earnings.  For  the  office  force  in  the  shoe  factory  this  can 
be  done.  We  can  ascertain  the  weekly  rate  of  pay  for  clerk  or  ste- 
nographer, find  that  it  is  not  cut  down  by  a  two  weeks'  vacation, 
and  on  the  basis  of  52  weeks  of  work  we  can  readily  calculate  the 
yearly  income.  But  as  concerns  earners  in  the  workrooms,  such  a 
calculation  is  impossible.  Two  constant  conditions  forbid  this  sim- 
ple arithmetical  process — the  seasonal  fluctuation  in  the  numbers 
employed,  and  the  instability  in  factory  workers  as  a  class.  Seasonal 
fluctuation  in  numbers  is  indicated  by  the  difference  between  the 
numbers  employed  in  times  of  maximum  and  minimum  industrial 
activity,  while  the  degree  of  instability  in  a  working  force  is  shown 
by  the  relation  of  the  maximum  number  in  any  one  week  or  month 
to  the  total  number  employed  in  any  one  year.  As  a  result  of  both 
factors,  few  women  work  at  shoemaking  all  the  year  round  and  few 
earn  for  the  year  the  full  amount  indicated  by  a  specified  weekly 
wage. 

SEASONAL    FLUCTUATION    IN    NUMBERS. 

Seasonal  fluctuation,  to  take  up  the  first  condition,  though  always 
a  feature  of  industrial  production,  has  become  in  recent  times  so 
marked  as  radically  to  afiect  the  whole  life  scheme  of  the  factory 
classes.  In  most  shoe  factories  it  is  now  a  recognized  condition.  It 
is  not,  it  is  true,  in  this  industry  subject  to  the  extremes  found  in 
several  other  trades,  yet  the  rise  and  fall  in  numbers  employed  is 
pronounced  in  the  whole  State,  and  the  difference  between  maximum 
and  minimum  activity  is  considerable  in  any  locality  and  very  great 
in  some.  According  to  the  State  statistics  for  1911,  seasonal  fluctua- 
tion in  shoe  factories  is  greater  than  that  in  any  other  leading  in- 
dustr}^  except  the  confectionery  and  women's  clothing  industries. 
These  similarities  and  differences  for  11  leading  industries  of  the 
State  are  shown  in  Table  24. 

75 


76 


BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 


Tablk  24.— maximum  AND  MINIMUM  NUMBERS  OF  ALL  WAGE  EARNERS  EMPLOYED 
IN  11  LEADING  MASSACHUSETTS  INDUSTRIES  IN  1911. 

[Source:  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Rf-port  on  the  Statistics  of  Manu- 
factures, 1911,  pp.  2-12.] 


Industry. 


Cotton  goods 

Boots  and  shoes,  leather . . 
Woolen  and  worsted  goods 

Electric  supplies 

Paper  and  wood  pu'.p 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods. . . 
Boots  and  shoes,  rubber. . 

Confectionery 

Clothing,  women's 

Clothing,  men's 

Boxes,  paper 


Maximum 

number 
employed. 


lis, 366 

02, 539 

55,979 

19, 622 

14,722 

10,  S26 

8.581 

7, 533 

7.014 

5, 841 

4,784 


Minimnm 

numlier 

employed. 


94, 701 

65,182 

40, 562 

16,268 

12,716 

8,476 

7,602 

4,  880 

4,113 

4,494 

3,557 


Per  cent 
minimum 
is  of  maxi- 
mum. 


80.0 
70.4 
72.5 
82.9 
86.4 
78.3 
.88.6 
64.8 
58.6 
76.8 
74.4 


Though  the  shoe  industry  may  be  classed  with  several  of  those 
listed  above  in  the  fact  and  in  the  amount  of  its  general  fluctuation, 
it  is  peculiar  in  the  shifting  from  year  to  year  of  its  seasons  of  high 
and  low  activity.  It  may  be  generally  stated  that  the  late  fall  or  early 
winter  months  show^  the  high  tide  of  employment,  with  some  stability 
through  the  winter,  a  rapid  ebb  in  the  early  spring,  partial  recovery 
in  the  late  summer,  and  irregularity  in  the  early  fall.  However, 
the  figures  in  Table  25,  taken  from  the  State  statistics  for  a  period  of 
five  years,  show  the  danger  of  making  even  this  general  statement 
unreservedly. 


Table  25.— FLUCTUATION  IN  NUMBERS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS  SHOE  FACTORIES  IN 
MONTHS  OF  MAXIMUM  AND  MINIMUM  EMPLOYMENT  FOR  A  PERIOD  OF  FIVE 
YEARS. 

[Based  on  reports  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics.] 


Year. 


1907... 
19C8... 
1909. . , 
1910. . . 
1911... 


Maximum  employment. 


Minimum  emploj'ment. 


Month. 


rel>ruary. , 
September 
December. 
February. 
December. 


Number 
employed. 


74,937 
71,780 
79,073 
82,707 
83,234 


Month. 


December 
June 

May 

October.. 
May 


Number 
employed. 


69,949. 
62,075 
70,316 
67, 489 
74,639 


DifTerence  in  number 
employed  in  months 
of  ma.ximum  and 
minimum  employ- 
ment. 


Number. 


9,705 
8,757 
15,218 
8. 595 


Per  cent. 


6.7 
13.5 
U.l 

18.4 
10.3 


It  will  be  noted  that  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  workers  in  the 
minimum  month  of  1907  was  comparatively  small;  in  the  two  suc- 
ceeding years  this  per  cent  was  about  doubled,  while  in  1910  it  was 
nearly  three  times  that  of  1907.  In  the  latest  report  the  difference  in 
numbers  between  the  months  of  maximum  and  minimum  employment 


BOOT   AND   SHOE   INDUSTEY   AS   A   VOCATION    FOE    WOMEN. 


77 


is  about  10  per  cent  of  the  maximum  number.  The  increasing  fluctua- 
tion for  som.e  years  was  apparently  due  to  the  rapid  increase  in 
manufacture;  for  the  more  recent  reduction,  better  business  organi- 
zation is  perhaps  partly  responsible,  as  well  as  the  increase  in  prod- 
uct of  certain  large  concerns  doing  business  on  a  stock  basis.  The 
numbers  here  gi^en  for  the  whole  State  show  smaller  differences 

WAGE  EARNERS  EMPLOYED  IN  SHOE  FACTORIES  IN  MASSACHUSETTS  EACH 
MONTH,  1910,  TO  SEPTEMBER,  1911,  IN  PER  CENT  OF  AVERAGE  FOR  THE 
YEAR. 


PERCENT 

AVERAGE 
FORYfAR. 

1910                                                                                 1911 
OCT        NOV        DEC.        JAN.         FEB.       MAR.         Af>R.       MAY        JUNE      JULY       AU6.        SEPT 

105 
104 
103 
102 
101 
100 

99 

1 

98 

t 

97 

1 
96 

95 

i- 
94- 

r. 

93 

1 
92 

91 

1     . 
90 
1 
69 

B8 

67 

66 

■ 

^-^ 

^^^ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

/ 

\ 

, 

/ 

/ 

\ 

< 

/ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

/ 

\ 

y 

^ 

j 

\ 

y 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/      . 

j 

than  may  be  found  in  various  localities,  in  some  of  which  the  ups  and 
downs  are  far  more  abrupt.  Table  26  does,  however,  clearly  illustrate 
the  fact  that  between  nine  and  ten  thousand  workers  drop  out  of  the 
industry  at  certain  seasons,  and  shows  also  the  dull  and  busy  months. 
The  table  and  the  accompanying  graphic  chart  show  the  fluctuations 
in  numbers  employed  in  the  industry  in  the  State  each  month,  from 
October.  1010,  to  September,  1911. 


78 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


Table  26.— NUMBEU   OF   WAGE   EARNERS  EMPLOYED  IN  SHOE   FACTORIES  IN  MAS- 
SACHUSETTS EACH  MONTH,   OCTOBER,   1910,  TO   SEPTEMBER,  1911. 

[Source:  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-fifth  and  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Reports  on  the 
Statistics  of  Manufactures,  1910  and  1911,  p.  56.] 


1910 

October 

November 

December 

1911, 

January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

September 

Average 


Number 

Per  cent 

of  wage 

of  the 

earners 

average  for 

employed. 

the  year. 

67,489 

87.1 

75, 185 

97.0 

78,052 

100.7 

80,438 

103.8 

81, 134 

104.7 

80,  ^82 

103.9 

77,345 

99.8 

74,639 

96.3 

75,650 

97.6 

77, 555 

100.1 

80,648 

104.1 

81,260 

io:.9 

77,490 

100.0 

The  phenomenon  of  seasonal  fluctuation  in  the  shoe  trade  can 
not  be  explained  by  any  single  cause,  but  the  most  effective  seems  to 
be  the  system  of  manufacture.  Two  systems  are  in  general  use  in 
the  shoe  trade.  By  the  stock  system  the  factory  manufactures  a 
certain  amount  of  product  each  month  and  sells  it  to  the  buyer  who 
comes  to  the  factory.  By  the  order  system  lots  of  shoes  are  made 
only  to  fill  orders  sent  in  by  the  traveling  salesmen  representing  the 
firm  and  taking  samples  of  its  special  products  to  the  retailers. 
Many  large  factories  maintain  their  own  retail  shops,  placed  in 
many  towns  and  cities,  thus  creating,  as  well  as  filling,  the  demand 
for  special  shoes.  The  stock  system  prevails  in  many  factories  mak- 
ing a  cheaper  grade  of  shoe  bought  by  consumers  who  dislike  change 
in  style  or  material.  This  is  especially  true  for  men's  and  boys'  shoes 
sold  in  agricultural  districts  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Some  fac- 
tories in  the  inland  Massachusetts  coimties  have  made  practically  the 
same  kind  of  shoe  for  workers  in  the  field,  or  the  same  heavy  boots  for 
the  lumbermen  in  the  forest,  for  half  a  century.  Their  amount  of 
work  is  about  the  same  the  year  round,  the  working  force  shows 
little  change  in  numbers,  and  they  usually  run  every  week  in  the 
year.  The  stability  of  the  work  is  taken  into  account  by  the  owner 
who  puts  his  piece  prices  below  those  of  factories  run  on  the  order 
system.  He  can  do  this  the  more  safely,  as  stock  work  is  ordinarily 
done  in  towns  where  no  other  industries  are  serious  competitors  and 
where  the  cost  of  living  is  less  than  in  centers  near  the  seaboard. 

Seasonal  fluctuation  reaches  its  extreme  in  shoe  factories  using  the 
order  system.  There  is  not,  it  is  true,  the  dreaded  short  term  of 
nerve-racking  activity,  as  in  the  millinery  trade  in  early  spring  and 
fall,  or  the  rush  time  of  the  confectionery  factories,  with  December's 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOB  WOMEN.  79 

number  of  girl  workers  showing  a  54  per  cent  increase  over  July. 
The  period  of  high  employment  for  the  shoe  trade  usually  extends 
over  the  eight  months  from  the  first  of  August  to  the  end  of  March. 
In  the  latter  part  of  March  a  decided  drop  usually  occurs,  reaching 
its  lowest  point  in  the  end  of  April,  when  many  factories  close  alto- 
gether for  stock  taking.  Through  May  and  June  there  is  a  steady 
increase  in  the  ranks  of  workers,  and  in  the  month  of  August  more 
people  are  making  shoes  than  in  the  month  of  January.  At  the  end 
of  September  there  is  again  another  though  far  less  decided  drop  for 
stock  taJving;  but  in  the  first  week  of  December  most  shoe  factories 
are  at  their  busiest. 

Under  the  order  system,  at  present  the  prevailing  method,  marked 
seasonal  fluctuation  seems  inevitable.  The  retailer  before  he 
orders  must  know  what  is  likely  to  be  the  best  seller;  the  manu- 
facturer must  wait  for  the  orders  from  his  traveling  men.  Between 
the  rush  of  orders  for  winter  boots  and  for  summer  shoes  there  is  a 
period  when  both  the  retail  shop  and  the  factory  are  feeling  their  way. 
Orders  come  in  slowly  and  the  working  force  is  reduced.  Roughly 
speaking,  then,  the  between  seasons  are  early  summer  and  mid- 
winter ;  specifically,  they  may  be  any  month  for  a  factory  worked  on 
the  order  system.  Factories  making  slippers  or  infants'  shoes  have 
their  busiest  season  in  the  three  months  preceding  Christmas,  their 
dullest  directly  after.  This  is  somewhat  out  of  line  with  the  ordinary 
shoe-factory  season.  The  main  cause  of  the  recent  general  adoption 
of  the  order  system  is  undoubtedly  the  rapid  changes  of  fashion  and 
the  uncertainty  in  regard  to  the  styles  that  will  be  used.  In  the  cen- 
ters manufacturing  women's  shoes,  while  it  is  known  that  high  shoes 
will  be  worn  more  in  winter  and  low  shoes  more  in  summer,  the  pres- 
ent demands  as  to  material  and  cut  vary  surprisingly  each  season. 
Whether  the  ladies  will  favor,  for  the  coming  season,  low  shoes  with 
two  or  three  straps  or  a  strapless  pump  is  a  vital  question  which 
must  be  settled  by  the  retailer  before  he  places  his  order  with  the 
factory.  The  uncertainty  as  to  what  will  be  the  "taking"  style 
for  the  coming  season  of  sale  operates  to  keep  many  factories  idle 
or  with  a  force  greatly  reduced  until  the  orders  come  in  all  at  once 
and  a  rush  season  begins.  These  changes  affect  most  the  high-grade 
shoes,  yet  even  in  the  cheaper  shoe  some  taking  quality  must  balance 
the  inferior  material  and  finish.  Even  in  men's  shoes  fashions  vary, 
though  to  a  less  extent.  The  cut  of  the  vamp  changes,  the  buttoned 
and  the  laced  shoe  are  favored  alternately  by  "  the  younger  set "  to 
whose  choice  the  high-grade  factories  must  defer. 

Not  only  does  fluctuation  in  fashion  create  changes  in  the  factory 
force  as  a  whole,  but  it  affects  the  individual  operator,  especially 
among  the  women.  When  the  mode  prescribes  buttoned  shoes  for 
men  or  women,  buttonhole  operators  and  button  operators  are  in 


80  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

great  demand,  their  payment  per  piece  goes  up,  and  hundreds  strive 
to  learn  these  special  operations  by  the  haphazard  methods  cus- 
tomary. The  next  season  fashion  chooses  laced  shoes,  and  the  button 
and  buttonhole  operatiA^es,  thrown  out  of  work,  are  dispiritedly 
seeking  handwork  or  trying  to  learn  the  stitching  processes. 

The  records  of  any  factory  of  considerable  output  show  two 
months,  far  apart  in  the  calendar,  which  have  a  larger  number  of 
operatives  than  their  neighbors  on  either  side.  These  two  periods  of 
activity  are  characteristic,  but  it  is  quite  as  impossi})le  to  fix  their 
occurrence  for  the  individual  factory  from  season  to  season  as  it  is 
for  the  locality  as  a  whole.  All  that  can  be  predicted  under  the  order 
system  is  that  the  biisy  season  will  begin  when  the  orders  arrive. 
Every  important  factory  installs  machines  sufficient  in  number  to  meet 
the  demand  of  the  busiest  wxeks,  and  the  expense  of  rental  for  idle 
machines  must  be  reckoned  in  as  cost  in  fixing  the  price  of  the  product. 
Work  on  winter  shoes  usually  begins  in  July  and  runs  through  the 
early  fall;  while  the  shoes  for  summer  are  largely  made  in  the  first 
three  months  of  the  year.  Some  of  the  larger  firms  do  the  bulk  of 
their  work  in  a  few  months  and  run  slack  the  rest  of  the  year.  With 
their  ample  equipment,  however,  if  they  pick  up  large  orders  they 
can  at  any  time  call  in  their  old  hands  and  speedily  finish  a  quantity 
of  work.  As  a  rule,  fluctuation  in  numbers  is  sharpest  in  the  large 
factories  where  big  orders  come  in  to  be  completed  in  a  few  weeks. 

There  are  in  Massachusetts  eight  legal  holidays;  these,  together 
with  the  52  Sundays,  if  deducted  from  the  865  days  of  the  year,  give 
305  working  days  for  the  factory.  Under  the  order  system  the  power 
in  most  factories  is  running  for  290  of  these  days,  or  for  50  w^orking 
weeks,  though  not  50  full  weeks.  A  common  though  not  universal 
practice  is  to  shut  down  factories  altogether  for  stock  taking  during 
one  week  in  April  and  another  in  November.  The  general  situation 
is,  however,  made  up  of  almost  as  many  variations  as  there  are  fac- 
tories. The  system  of  manufacture,  the  kind  of  product,  the  special 
variety  of  that  kind  in  an  individual  factory,  even  the  character  of 
the  working  force,  shift  the  months  and  weeks  of  maximum  activity 
in  any  one  center  around  the  calendar. 

While  the  active  seasons  in  no  two  localities  are  strictly  contem- 
poraneous, and  while  in  any  large  center  differences  of  product  pre- 
vent corresponding  periods  of  activity  in  the  factories,  yet  a  few 
local  tendencies  may  be  discovered.  Lynn,  for  instance,  shows  the 
greatest  seasonal  fluctuation,  and  the  finer  the  grade  of  shoe  made 
the  more  the  number  of  workers  varies  from  month  to  month.  This 
is  because  Lynn  makes  shoes  for  women,  whose  buying  is  dictated 
by  the  change  in  fashion.  The  busiest  montlis  vary  greatly  among 
the  factories,  while  dull  months  generally  coincide  closely.  For  the 
Lynn  industry  as  a  whole,  then,  the  busy  times  are  indeterminate, 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTBY  AS  A   VOCATION    FOB   WOMEN. 


81 


the  dull  season  well  marked.  This  condition,  wherever  it  occurs, 
has  an  important  bearing  on  both  possible  and  actual  annual  earn- 
ings. Table  27  below  shoAvs  typical  variation  in  numbers  employed 
for  13  factories  in  six  localities. 


Table  27 


-MONTHS   OF   MAXIMUM  AND   MINIMUM   EMPLOYMENT  AND  NUMBER   OF 
WOMEN   EMPLOYED   IN   13  SHOE   FACTORIES. 


[Based  on  paj 

rolls.] 

Maximum  employment. 

Minimum  employment. 

Ixxality. 

Month. 

Number 
employed. 

Month. 

Number 
employed. 

Brockton: 

183 
246 
171 

416 
39 
254 
160 
65 

383 
108 
409 

33 
20 

Ill 

Factory  B 

February 

September 

189 

Factory  C  

October 

May 

137 

Lynn: 

Factory  A 

March 

July 

361 

Factory  B 

Sept  ember 

May 

22 

Factory  C 

January                   . . 

July 

221 

May 

65 

Beverly:  Factory  A 

October        .  . 

February 

50 

Marlboro: 

Factory  A  ...... 

September 

November 

258 

Factory  B 

94 

Phelsea:  Factory  A     . . 

January    

May.   . 

303 

Boston: 

Factory  A     

....do.       .  . 

Vpril     ... 

14 

Factory  B 

16 

Total 

2,487 

1,841 

INSTABILITY   OF   WAGE   EARNERS. 

Seasonal  changes  in  the  amount  of  work  available  in  shoe  fac- 
tories, as  in  many  others,  augment  instability  in  the  working  force. 
Nor  is  this  instability  in  numbers  merely ;  it  means  a  shifting  in  the 
personnel  of  the  wage  earners  connected  with  any  one  factory.  This 
is  most  pronounced  where  the  order  system  is  most  in  use.  In  Lynn, 
for  instance,  the  center  of  woinen^s  footwear,  it  was  found  that  ap- 
parently but  18  per  cent  of  the  women  listed  worked  the  full  number 
of  weeks  during  which  the  factories  were  run.  Whenever  the  months 
during  which  work  will  be  maintained  with  some  regularity  in  the 
factories  of  a  group  are  not  identical  there  is  a  natural  endeavor  on 
the  part  of  the  wage  earners  to  prevent  loss  by  shifting  from  one 
factory  to  another.  It  is  usually  an  unprofitable  expedient.  Tem- 
porary relationship  to  any  kind  of  work  may  increase  experience  and 
perhaps  general  ability,  but  general  ability  is  at  a  discount  in  a 
closely  differentiated  trade;  the  quality  desired  is  special  expertness. 
In  the  new  connection  differences  in  method  and  product  mean  at 
least  a  temporary  decrease  in  speed  and  therefore,  for  the  piece- 
worker, decrease  in  wage.  Again,  though  at  a  given  time  work  in 
one  factory  may  be  scanty  and  in  another  abundant,  a  few  weeks  or 
even  a  week  may  reverse  the  situation.  To  make  every  week  in  the 
SSSl**— Bull.  ISO— 15 6 


8^ 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


year  a  wage-earning  week  is  a  baffling  puzzle,  and  in  the  unsuccess- 
ful attempts  to  solve  it  restlessness,  discouragement,  and  indifference 
to  the  quality  of  work  naturally  result.  Nevertheless  the  effort  is 
constantly  made  and  there  is  in  consequence  a  high  degree  of  shift- 
ing from  factory  to  factory.  The  varying  amounts  of  instability  are 
indicated  in  Table  28. 


Table  28— INSTABILITY  OF  WOMEN  WORKERS  BY  RELATION  OF  MAXIMUM  TO  TOTAL 
NUMBERS  EMPLOYED  IN  1910  AND  1911  (MINORS  INCLUDED). 

[Based  on  pay  rolls  of  13  factories.] 


Locality. 

Number  of  women  em- 
ployed— 

Per  cent 
maximum 

1 
During  the  |    In  maxi- 
year.       i  mum  week. 

number  i3 
of  total. 

Brockton: 

Factory  A. 

324                 198 
341                  255 

265  j               184 

61.1 

Factory  B. 

74.7 

Factory  C 

69.4 

Total : . . . 

930 

637 

Lynn: 

FactoryA              

767 

69 

637 

301 

442 

43 

291 

168 

57.6 

Factory  B 

62.3 

Factory  C 

45.7 

Factory  D                                                              

55.8 

Total                            .         

1,774 

944 

Marlboro: 

Factory  A                                           ..                     

523 
111 

386 
109 

73.8 

Factory  B 

98.2 

Total                                                      

634 

495 

Beverly:  Factory  A      .                     .  .        

73 
773 

66 
421 

90.4 

Chelsea*  Factory  A 

64.5 

Boston: 

s 

33 
20 

46.5 

Factory  B                 

100.0 

Total 

91 

63 

Grand  total 

4,275 

2,616 

6L2 

There  is  also  migration  from  one  shoe  tori\ai  to  another  in  the  same 
group,  especially  where  train  or  trolley  service  makes  transit  easy. 
Lynn  draws  workers  from  Salem,  Beverly,  Peabody,  Danvers,  and 
even  from  Chelsea  and  Boston,  and  these  towns  in  turn  draw  help 
for  their  factories  from  Lynn.  In  the  Plymouth  County  group, 
Brockton  is  closely  connected  by  the  "electrics"  with  Whitman-, 
Abingtoii,  and  many  outlying  towns,  most  of  which  have  shoe  fac- 
tories of  their  own.  Marlboro,  Hudson,  and  Framingham  are  more 
remote  from  cosmopolitan  influence,  and  yet  even  here  shifting  in 
the  working  force  is  found  as  between  town  and  village  factories. 

Instability,  since  it  is  for  the  most  part  characteristic  of  an  unat- 
tached younger  group  of  workers,  is  naturally  less  prominent  among 
the  women.    It  is  the  younger  men  and  girls  for  the  most  part  who 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR  WOMEN.  83 

shift  from  factory  to  factory  and  from  town  to  town.  "  Family  " 
men  and  women  reluctantly  break  industrial  connection  or  change 
from  one  locality  to  another. 

The  best  firms  so  clearly  recognize  the  industrial  disadvantage  of 
a  shifting  personnel  in  their  factory  force  that  they  take  various 
means  to  lessen  it  as  much  as  possible.  In  the  outskirts  of  Boston  a 
firm  employing  5,000  operatives  in  the  course  of  a  year  will  not  en- 
gage workers  outside  of  an  area  within  a  few  minutes  walk  or  ride 
of  the  factory.  This  firm  makes  a  good  deal  of  stock  product;  it  does 
not,  however,  give  employment  to  the  majority  of  its  workers  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  year.  Labor  men  claim  that  the  smaller  factory 
is  better  for  a  community.  The  fact  that  its  smaller  output  must  be 
more  or  less  continuous  in  order  to  make  a  profit  tends,  they  say,  to 
steady  the  work,  while  the  closer  connection  of  interests  between 
employer  and  employees  tends  to  steady  the  workers. 

Local  differences  in  the  shifting  of  women  workers  and  in  the 
degree  of  their  unemployment  are  marked.  For  the  purpose  of 
ready  comparison  the  total  numbers  of  women  in  each  of  the  four 
important  centers  studied  have  been  divided  into  five  classes  accord- 
ing to  the  duration  of  their  employment  for  the  year.  Class  1  com- 
prises those  who  work  every  week  in  the  year ;  class  2,  the  "  steady 
workers,"  or  those  who  are  employed  for  46  weeks  or  more;  class  3, 
the  "  seasonal  workei*s,"  who  continue  through  or  partly  beyond  the 
season  of  greatest  activity,  namely,  36  to  45  weeks,  inclusive ;  class  4, 
the  "extra  force,"  working  from  13  to  35  weeks  during  the  active 
season;  and  class  5,  the  "temporary  workers,"  who  are  connected 
with  the  factory  12  weeks  or  less. 

In  Marlboro,  where  the  factories  run  continuously  for  52  weeks 
in  the  year,  the  first  two  classes  really  merge  into  one.  Since  a  large 
proportion  of  women  work  the  whole  52  weeks,  it  has  seemed  more 
exact  to  put  these  into  a  separate  class,  which  is  represented  by  a  very 
small  per  cent  in  Lynn,  and  in  Brockton  is  not  represented  at  all. 
The  large  proportion  in  the  first  two  classes  in  Marlboro  illustrates 
the  fact  that  not  only  the  system  of  work  but  also  the  character  of 
the  community  affects  the  stability  of  the  working  force.  Figures 
for  Boston  and  Chelsea  have  not  been  given,  because  the  factories 
studied  in  this  locality  differ  so  widely  in  size,  in  the  systems  of 
work,  and  in  the  conditions  of  their  surrounding  sections  that  they 
can  not  be  considered  as  belonging  to  a  class,  however  interesting 
they  may  be  when  studied  separately.  For  the  same  reason  Beverly 
is  omitted  from  the  statements  for  Lynn. 

The  proportion  of  "  temporary  workers,"  in  class  5,  differs  widely  in 
the  three  localities,  its  maximum  being  found  in  Lynn.  This  class  is 
by  no  means  made  up  of  one  element.  The  "temporary  workers" 
are,  in  fact,  broadly  divided  into  the  occasional  and  the  unstable 


84  .        BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

classes.  The  former  are  skilled  women,  who  go  into  the  same  factory 
season  after  season,  Avork  a  few^  months  at  high  wages,  and  retire 
into  private  life  for  the  rest  of  the  year.  Their  term  of  service, 
usually  sought  by  the  management,  is  voluntarily  brief.  The  un- 
stable class,  on  the  other  hand,  form  much  the  larger  proportion,  and 
is  made  up  of  various  elements.  Many,  after  a  Aveek  or  two  of  trial 
work,  leave  the  factory  in  discontent ;  some  continue  longer  on  a  low 
time  wage,  yet  are  of  too  little  value  to  be  retained.  Many  are 
"learners,"  w^ho,  convinced  they  are  not  getting  on  fast  enough  in 
one  factory,  carry  their  short  experience  as  a  supposed  asset  to  an- 
other place.  In  all  these  cases  the  personal  point  of  view  shortens 
the  time  of  employment.  For  the  short  term  of  service  of  the  large 
remainder,  the  order  system,  with  its  varying  demands  as  to  numbers, 
is  responsible. 

Class  4,  the  "  extra  force,"  varies,  according  to  locality,  from  over 
one-fifth  to  nearly  two-fifths  of  the  total  number.  Their  period  of 
employment  varies  from  three  to  eight  months  and  covers  one  or 
both  of  the  two  yearly  periods  of  active  production.  These  "  extra  " 
workers  are  often  found  in  the  factory  from  December  or  January 
through  March,  when  many  drop  out  for  a  few  weeks,  to  come  on 
again  in  August  for  the  second  busy  period.  In  Lynn  one-half  of  the 
"  extra  force,"  in  Brockton,  one-third,  and  in  Marlboj'o,  nearly  the 
same  proportion,  work  less  than  six  months  in  the  year. 

For  the  "  high  season  "  workers  in  class  3  the  proportion  again  is 
similar  for  the  three  centers,  Marlboro  taking  the  lead.  The  women 
in  this  class  are  largely  skilled  workers;  in  contrast  to  the  class 
below,  their  relative  numbers  increase  with  the  number  of  weeks,  and 
more  are  employed  over  40  weeks  than  under.  In  dull  times,  during 
stock-taking  week  or  between  orders,  these  valuable  workers  are  often 
dismissed  by  relays,  one  stitching  or  packing  room  at  a  time,  so  that 
they  may  not  drop  connection  with  the  factory. 

There  remains  the  group  of  "  steady  workers  "  made  up  of  classes 
1  and  2.  In  Marlboro  these  together  make  nearly  50  per  cent  of  all 
the  women  workers;  in  Brockton,  40  per  cent:  and  in  Lj^nn,  27  per 
cent.  The  earnings  of  these  two  classes,  and  of  these  alone,  may  be 
taken  to  represent  the  actual  annual  income  for  women  as  shoe  work- 
ers, for  the  other  classes  may,  and  sometimes  do,  work  in  other  fac- 
tories or  at  secondary  occupations  to  fill  up  the  idle  weeks.  Their 
supplementary  earnings,  whatever  their  source,  can  not  be  included 
in  the  income  derived  from  shoemaking.  A  number  of  the  young 
women,  for  instance,  take  a  summer  vacation  as  waitresses  in  seashore 
or  mountain  hotels. 

In  conclusion,  the  degree  of  instability  characteristic  of  the  shoe 
workers  does  not  seem  in  any  noticeable  measure  affected  by  labor 
organization,  by  the  nature  of  the  product,  or  by  the  proportion  of 


BOOT  a:nd  shoe  industky  as  a  vocation  foe  women. 


85 


either  sex  among  the  wage  earners.  It  is  influenced  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent by  the  size  of  a  factory,  by  the  economic  status  and  the  character 
of  its  workers,  and  by  the  local  habits  of  a  community.  Strongest  of 
all  influences  is  undoubtedly  the  system  of  manufacture. 

A  fair  presentation,  then,  of  what  women  workers  in  the  shoe  in- 
dustry may  earn  will  include  only  the  annual  earnings  of  the  "  steady 
workers."  The  proportion  of  such  w^orkers  in  different  factories 
grouped  by  special  localities  is  given  in  Table  29. 

Table  29.— PROPORTION  OF  ADULT  WOMEN  WORKING  46  WEEKS  OR  MORE  IN  THE 
YEAR  IN  12  MASSACHUSETTS  SHOE  FACTORIES,  AND  THE' CHIEF  PRODUCT  IN  EACH 
FACTORY,  CLASSIFIED  BY  LOCALITY. 


Locality. 

Chief  product. 

Total 
number  of 

women 

employed 

in  each 

factory. 

Women     working     46 
weeks  or  more  during 
the  year  at  each  fac- 
tory. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Brockton: 

Factory  A          .          ... 

Men's  shoes 

299 

292 
265 

87 
151 
100 

29.1 

Factory  B 

do  .. 

51  7 

...  .do 

37.7 

Total 

856 

338 

Women's  shoes 

Lynn: 

Factory  A      . 

722 

69 

6;i7 

301 

240 
16 

131 
92 

33.2 

Kartnrv  R 

do  .. 

23  2 

Factory  C                     ..... 

.  .  .do 

20.6 

Factory  D 

do                 ■. 

30.6 

' 

Total 

1,729 

479 



Men's  and  women's  shoes 

Men's  shoes                    . .        ... 

Beverly:  Factory  A 

73 

43 

58.9 

Marlboro: 
Factory  \ 

430 
109 

193 
93 

44  9 

Factory  B 

Men's,  women's,  and  children's 
shoes. 

85.3 

539 

286 

Men's,  women's,  and  children's 

shoes. 
Misses',  children's,  and  infants' 

shoes. 

Chelsea*  Factory  A 

710 
130 

162 
5 

22.8 

3.8 

Grand  total 

4,037 

1,313 

31.7 

STTMM.AlRY   of  table   for   TnREE 
IMPORT.\NT  CENTERS. 

Lynn 

1,729 
856 
539 

479 
338 
286 

27.7 

39.4 

Marlboro 

53.1 

The  percentages  of  steady  workers  in  the  four  Lynn  factories 
studied  are  at  once  lower  and  more  uniform  than  those  of  the  other 
localities  for  which  more  than  one  factory  is  included  in  the  table. 
In  Lynn  the  average  is  about  28  per  cent,  and  the  highest  percentage 
show^n  is  33.2  per  cent.  In  Brockton  the  average  is  39.4  per  cent,  in 
Marlboro  53.1  per  cent,  and  the  highest  percentages  found  are,  re- 
spectively, 51.7  per  cent  and  85.3  per  cent.  The  prevalence  of  the 
order  system  in  Lynn  must  be  emphasized  as  a  chief  reason  for  its 
showing  in  this  respect.     Of  the  30  factories  visited  in  Lynn,  two- 


86  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

thirds  use  the  order  system,  one -third  both  stock  and  order,  though 
hirgely  the  former.  Factory  A,  for  instance,  in  the  Lynn  group 
shown  in  Table  29,  maintains  its  own  i-etail  stores  in  many  cities,  and 
is  therefore  safe  in  making,  as  it  does,  a  large  quantity  of  stock  prod- 
uct. Its  per  cent  of  steady  workers  is  the  highast  for  Lynn.  Fac- 
tories B,  C,  and  D  produce  on  the  order  system  entirely. 

The  records  for  24  Brockton  concerns  visited  show  70  per  cent 
using  the  order  system.  Factory  A  in  Table  29  uses  the  order  system 
altogether,  the  others  both  order  and  stock.  Notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  management  and  conditions  of  Factory  A  in  the  Brock- 
ton groui3  make  work  within  its  walls  eagerly  sought,  its  per  cent  of 
steady  workers  is  lower  than  the  average  for  Brockton.  The  product 
of  Factory  B  in  the  Brockton  group  is  ma.de  largely  by  the  order 
system,  25  per  cent  only  by  stock.  The  majority  of  firms,  however, 
using  both  systems  divide  the  product  fairly  between  the  two,  as  is 
the  case  in  Factory  C.  The  two  factories  given  for  Marlboro  together 
control  nine-tenths  of  the  industry  of  that  town,  where  at  present 
there  are  only  two  or  three  other  small  concerns.  Factory  A  makes 
a  cheap  stock  shoe  in  constant  demand  by  workingmen,  and  sells 
by  the  job  system  to  wholesale  dealei*s.  Factory  B  makes  a  better 
grade  of  shoe  for  men  and  women  on  the  order  system.  Of  the  fac- 
tories in  Beverly,  Chelsea,  and  Boston,  the  first  works  on  the  stock 
system  and  produces  a  cheap  grade  of  shoe,  the  second  by  the  order 
system  altogether,  as  does  also  the  BovSton  factory.  Extreme  insta- 
bility in  the  working  force  was  found  in  this  Boston  factory.  A 
special  product  made  by  the  order  system  must  be  held  largely  re- 
sponsible for  this. 

Several  facts  of  the  first  importance  to  women  shoe  workers  are 
learned  from  Table  29.  First,  the  average  of  steadj^  workers  for  the 
12  factories  is  about  32  per  cent.  While  two  or  three  towns  where 
high  fluctuation  occurs,  as  Haverhill,  Newburyport,  and  Worcester, 
are  not  here  represented,  their  weight  is  balanced  by  a  number  of 
interior  small  toAvns  producing  goods  on  the  stock  basis  and  showing 
little  variation  in  the  numbers  employed.  On  the  whole,  it  is  believed 
this  proportion  represents  average  conditions  for  the  State.  The 
total  number  of  women  working  in  Massachusetts  shoe  factories^  (not 
including  cut  stock  and  shoe  findings  factories)  in  1911  was  27,59o, 
According  to  the  findings  of  this  study,  about  one-third,  or  9,197, 
of  these  work  46  weeks  or  more  in  the  year.  Minors,  forming  less 
than  one-half  of  1  per  cent  of  these  steady  workers,  may  be  excluded 
from  this  discussion.  As  our  records  for  those  working  46  weeks  or 
more  include  1,800  adult  women,  we  are  in  a  position  to  quote  earn- 
ings for  a  trifle  over  14  per  cent  of  the  total  number.    Two-thirds  of 

1  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  on  the  8tatis,tics  of 
Manufactures,  1911,  p.  2. 


BOOT  AND  SETOE  INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN. 


87 


these  1,800  women  work  in  Lynn  and  Bi*ockton,  where  the  highest 
wages  in  the  State  in  this  industry  are  paid.  The  figures  for  earn- 
ings, then,  make  a  favorable,  though  not  an  exaggerated,  showing  in 
comparison  with  the  average  for  the  State. 

ANNUAL  EARNINGS  OF  STEADY  WORKERS. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  factories  chosen  for  special  study  show 
so  great  a  variety  in  management,  product,  and  numbers  as  to  make 
statistics  drawn  from  their  pay  rolls  a  fair  and  reliable  representa- 
tion of  women's  earnings.  The  classified  earnings  presented  in 
Table  30  may  then  be  taken  as  a  basis  for  discussion. 


Table  30— ANNUAL  EARNINGS  OF  ADULT  WOMEN  WORKING  46  WEEKS  OR   MORP^.  IN 
THE  YEAR  1910-11,  CLASSIFIED  ACCORDING  TO  KIND  OF  WORK. 

[Eased  on  pay  rolls  of  12  factories.l 


Workers  ref^iving  classsifled  earnings. 

EaniHigs. 

Machine  operators. 

Handworkers. 

Total 
number. 

Percent. 

Number. 

Percent. 

Nomber. 

Percent. 

Classified  anmial  earnings. 
$150  and  under  $200 

5 

16 

42 

66 

96 

141 

127 

117 

107 

60 

37 

23 

23 

14 

12 

5 

0.6 

1.8 

4.7 

7.4 

10.8 

15.8 

14.2 

13.1 

12.0 

6.7 

4.1 

2.6 

2.6 

1.6 

1.3 

.6 

6 

12 

31 

46 

76 

70 

66 

36 

28 

21 

9 

11 

5 

2 

2 

1.4 

2.9 

7.4 

10.9 

18.1 

16.6 

15.6 

8.5 

6.7 

5.0 

2.1 

2.6 

1.2 

.5 

.5 

11 

28 

73 

112 

172 

211 

193 

153 

136 

81 

46 

34 

28 

16 

14 

5 

0.8 

$200  and  under  $250                 

2.1 

$250  and  vmder  $300 

6.6 

$800  and  under  $350                 

8.5 

$350  and  under  .*400 

13.1 

$400  and  under  $450          

16.1 

$450  and  under  $500 

14.7 

$500  and  under  $550          

11.6 

$550  and  under  $800                           

10.3 

$600  and  under  $650 

6.2 

$650  and  under  $700             

3.5 

$700  and  under  $750 

2.8 

$750  and  under  $800       

2.1 

$800  and  under  $cS50                    

1.2 

$850  and  under  $900  

1.1 

$900  and  luider  $950             

,4 

$950  and  under  $1  000 

1 

.1 

1 

.1 

Total...                

892 

100.0 

421' 

100.0 

1,313 

100.0 

Cumulative  annual  earnings  for  all 
workers. 

1    Under  ?500 

800 

112 
396 
607 
513 

360 

225 

98 

36 

60.9 

;::::::::::: 

8.5 

$400  or  under 

30  2 

46.2 

2   $500  and  over 

39.1 

27.4 

$600  and  over 

17.1 

7.5 

$800  and  over. .         

r 

2.7 

Total 

1,313 

100.0 

1 

Table  30  shows  that  576,  or  44  per  cent,  of  the  women  earn  $350 
to  $499  per  annum.  The  earnings  of  this  predominant  midway 
group,  if  distributed  throughout  a  year  of  50  weeks,  would  make  an 
average  wage  of  $7  to  $10  per  week.    It  will  here  occur  to  the  reader 


88 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


that  among  those  whose  earnings  are  lower  than  this  there  must  be 
a  large  number  of  women  who  work  onl}^  46  or  47  weeks  in  the  year. 
This  is  so  far  from  the  case  that  the  number  working  50  to  52  weeks 
in  the  year  forms  by  far  the  largest  per  cent,  as  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing table : 

Table  31— ADULT  WOMEN  AVORKINC,  46  WEEKS  OR  MORE  IN  THE  YEAR  DISTRIBUTED 
AS  TO  LOCALITY  AND  NUMBER  OF  WEEKS  WORKED. 

[Based  on  paj'^  roUs.] 


Women  working  specified  number  of  weeks. 

Number  of  weeks 
worked. 

Brockton. 

Lynn. 

Marlboro. 

Total, 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

52    

9 
250 
91 
55 
37 
21 
15 

1.9 

52.3 

19.1 

11.5 

7.7 

4.4 

3.1 

161 
34 
27 
10 
13 
12 
8 

60.7 
12.9 
10.2 
3.8 
4.9 
4.5 
3.0 

170 
374 
160 
159 
106 
67 
45 

15.7 

51 

90 
42 
94 
56 
34 
22 

26.6 
12.4 
27.8 
16.6 
10.1 
6.5 

34.6 

50 

14.8 

49                      

14.7 

48 

9.8 

47            

6.2 

4G 

4.2 

Total  .   . 

338 

100.0 

478 

100.0 

265 

100.0 

1,081 

100  0 

SUMMARY. 

46  and  under  50 

50  and  over 

206 
132 

60.9 
39.1 

128 
350 

26.8 
73.2 

43 
222 

1(5.2 
83.8 

377 
704 

34.9 

f.0.1 

Total  . . 

338 

100.0 

478 

100.0 

265 

100.0 

1,081 

100.0 

Of  the  65  per  cent  working  50  weeks  or  oAer  a  large  number  are  the 
all-the-year-round  workers  in  Marlboro.  Excluding  these  there  still 
remains  a  group  of  nearly  50  per  cent  who  w^ork  50  or  51  weeks  in 
the  year,  a  group  scattered  throughout  all  the  centers  studied,  with 
local  diiferences  as  to  proportion.  In  Brockton  no  factory  runs  52 
w  eeks  in  the  year,  but  its  group  of  women  Avorking  50  weeks  or  over 
make  up  about  40  per  cent  of  the  steady  workers;  those  working  48 
or  49  weeks,  44  per  cent.  In  Lj^nn  the  number  working  50  weeks  or 
more  make  73  per  cent,  while  in  Marlboro  the  per  cent  rises  above  80. 
In  some  of  the  scattered  factories  which  can  not  be  placed  in  a  unified 
group  the  proportion  working  50  weeks  or  more  is  very  high,  as  in 
Chelsea,  where  in  one  large  factory  nearly  80  per  cent  of  the  steady 
workers  work  50  weeks  or  more  in  the  year. 

It  is  apparent,  then,  that  the  small  amount  of  the  annual  income 
can  seldom  be  laid  to  loss  occasioned  by  two  to  five  weeks'  absence  from 
the  factory  during  the  time  it  is  in  operation.  The  average  wage 
of  the  predominant  group  among  the  steady  workers,  namely,  $7  to 
$10  for  each  of  50  weeks,  as  deduced  from  Table  30,  should  be  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  predominant  groups  in  Table  15,  showing  the 
average   wage  for  all  adult  women  in  the  week  of  maximum  employ- 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  89 

ment,  where  all  five  classes  of  workers  are  included.  Here  we  find 
that  43  per  cent  of  those  working  in  the  maximum  week  earned  $10  or 
over,  while  26  per  cent  earned  $12  or  over.  This  wage,  if  multiplied 
by  the  50  weeks  worked  by  the  majority  of  steady  workers,  gives 
$500  to  $600  or  over  per  annum,  as  opposed  to  the  $350  to  $500 
actually  earned  by  the  predominant  group,  according  to  the  pay  rolls. 
The  lack  of  correspondence  betAveen  wage  and  annual  income  be- 
comes still  more  apparent  when  it  is  considered  that  the  wage  for 
"  steady  workers  "  in  the  week  of  maximum  employment  runs  much 
above  the  average.  In  full  weeks  many  of  the  "  steadies  ''  earn  from 
$12  to  $15,  while  a  higher  wage  is  by  no  means  uncommon,  yet  the 
annual  earnings  of  $600  to  $750,  which  such  weekly  wages  would 
imply,  are  gained  by  only  a  small  proportion  of  these  Avorkers.  There 
is  a  grave  discrepancy  here  between  potential  and  actual  earnings. 

This  puzzling  fact  is  explained  by  examination  of  certain  factory 
pay  rolls.  In  a  few  cases  a  record  is  kept  not  only  of  the  number  of 
weeks  each  earner  worked,  but  also  of  her  number  of  days  or  even 
half  days  in  each  week.  In  the  case  of  time  workers  the  management 
needs  such  a  record  to  determine  the  wages  each  week;  in  the  case 
of  pieceworkers  it  is  a  device  to  increase  the  regularity  both  of 
work  and  workers.  As  a  result  of  study  of  such  records  and  of 
interviews  with  managers  and  workers  alike  it  is  found  that  even 
among  steady  Avorkers  there  is  a  large  amount  of  what  may  be 
called  factory  imemployment.  Though  a  woman  work  every  day  of 
every  week,  she  will  not  work  full  time  each  Aveek  nor  earn  her  full 
potential  income.  On  some  days  there  will  be  no  work  at  all,  on 
others  Avork  for  a  morning  onlv,  and  on  still  others  so  sjreat  an 
irregularity  that  during  no  part  of  the  day  is  the  Avorker  fully  busy 
or  fully  free.  The  employees  may  be  personally  responsible  for  a 
full  Aveek  lost,  but  they  are  rarely  so  for  the  part  Aveeks  or  part  days 
of  idleness.  Under  time  and  piece  payment  alike  Avages  are  cut 
doAvn  by  a  condition  characteristic  of  a  well-managed  factory  as 
Avell  as  of  one  poorly  run. 

Some  typical  examples  of  the  time  lost  through  Avant  of  continu- 
ous Avork  are  giA^en  in  Tables  32  and  33.  Table  32  relates  to  hand- 
Avorkei*s  paid  on  a  time  basis  in  a  factory  running  51  weeks  in  the 
year.  As  a  class  these  workers  are  economically  more  dependent 
than  women  ih  the  stitching  room  Avho  Avork  at  higher  rates  and  ma}" 
A'oluntarily  leave  off  work  at  times. 


90 


BULLETOf   OP  THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR  STATISTICS. 


Table  32.— UNEMPLOYMENT  BY  NUMBER  OF  WEEKS,  DAYS,  AND  PART  DAYS  LOST 
FOR  23  TIME    WORKERS  IN   LYNN. 

[Based  on  pay  roll.] 


- 
Occupation. 

Nominal 
weekly- 
wage. 

Number  of  weeks  worked. 

Number  <rf  days  lost. 

Total. 

Full. 

Part. 

Whole. 

Part. 

■ 
Packers: 

A 

SIO.  50 
10. 50 
10.50 
10.50 
10.50 
10.50 

laso 

10.  .50 

laso 

7.50 
7.50 
7.60 
7.50 

10.50 
10.50 
10.50 

10.50 
9.00 

laso 
laso 

9.00 
10.50 
9.00 

51 
51 
51 
50 
50 
50 
49 
48 
47 

51 
51 
51 
51 

51 
61 

48 

51 
51 
51 
51 
50 
59 
47 

22 
36 
27 
25 
29 
22 
27 
27 
23 

13 
11 
13 
6 

34 
21 
20 

9 
22 
31 
37 

19 

28 
23 

29 
15 
24 
25 
21 
28 
22 
21 
24 

38 
40 
38 
46 

27 
30 
28 

42 
29 
20 
24 
31 
22 
24 

23 
» 
17 
13 
2Q 
12 
14 
15 
12 

33 

29 
27 
30 

13 

la 

20 

30 
16 
13 
15 
16 
30 
49 

24 

B 

9 

C 

22 

D 

26 

E 

20 

F 

32 

G 

19 

H 

20 

I 

23 

Tack  feelers: 

A 

39 

B 

45 

C 

46 

D 

54 

Slackers: 

A 

35 

B 

44 

c : 

35 

Patent-leather  repairws: 

33 

B 

26 

C 

16 

D 

10 

E.. 

28 

F . 

18 

G 

16 

The  packers  have  a  nominal  wage  of  $10.50  a  week,  or  $1.75  a 
day.  For  those  working  50  weelcs,  the  great  majority,  this  should 
amount  to  $525  for  the  year.  Packer  E,  however,  has  lost  20  full 
days  and  20  half  days,  making  30  full  days  or  5  weeks  in  the 
year.  Fifty-two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  must  then  be  deducted  from 
her  nominal  annual  earnings  of  $525.  Packer  I,  whose  47  weeks 
of  work  should  yield  $493.50  for  the  year,  has  Ic^t  about  24  days, 
and  must  de^iuct  $42  from  her  annual  earnings,  leaving  $451.50  per 
year,  or  $9.60  per  week.  The  tack  feelers,  who  earn  less,  are  in  a 
worse  case.  They  work  every  possible  week,  but  seldom  a  full  week. 
Tack  feeler  D,  whose  nominal  w^age  is  $7.50,  has  worked  but  5  full 
weeks  and  has  lost  57  days,  the  earnings  for  which  must  be  deducted 
from  her  nominal  annual  earnings  of  about  $382.  Some  of  these 
days  are  public  holidays.  Were  she  a  janitress,  a  waitress,  or  a  book- 
keeper, holidays  would  mean  no  loss  of  wage.  Her  actual  loss,  how- 
ever, is  about  $71,  leaving  her  $311  for  the  year,  or  $6.09  for  each  of 
her  51  weeks  of  work. 

The  same  uncertainty  as  to  the  difference  between  actual  and 
potential  earnings  prevails  among  the  higher  classes  of  workers  in 
the  stitching  rooms.  Table  33  shows  unemployment  for  certain 
skilled  machine  operators  in  a  large,  well-organized  factory  drawing 
help  from  a  stable  population.  The  six  months  selected  are  those 
in  which  work  was  most  active.  The  days  lost  in  no  instance  oc- 
curred at  the  beginning  or  end  of  a  term  of  service. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY   AS   A  VOCATION   F08  WOMEN. 


91 


Table  33.— UNEMPLOYMENT  BY  NUMBER  OF  DAYS  AND  PART  DAYS  LOST  FOR 
SKILLED  MACHINE  OPERATORS  WORKING  6  CONSECUTIVE  MONTHS  OR  26  WEEKS 
IN   THE    MOST    ACTIVE   SEASON   IN   1911. 

[Based  or  pay  roll.} 


Number  of  weeks  worked. 

Number  erf  days  fofit. 

Ocnupation. 

Total.             Full. 

1 

Part. 

Whole 
days. 

Half  days. 

Vampers: 

26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 

26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 
26 

20 
18 
IS 
18 
17 
17 
16 
16 
16 
9 

21 
21 
20 
19 
19 
17 
12 

6 

8 
8 
8 

9 
10 
10 
10 
17 

5 
5 
6 
7 
7 
9 
14 

3 
4 
4 
4 
5 
5 

t 

2 
2 
3 
4 
4 
5 
7 

4 

B             

5 

c                                                  

s 

D    

5 

E 

5 

F 

s 

G                             .                 

A 

H 

6 

I         

6 

J •. 

10 

Top  stitchers: 

4 

B 

4 

c                 

4 

D 

4 

E    

4 

F 

5 

G 

5 

Skilled  .stitchei*s  not  infre<iiiently  earn  $18  to  $20  in  full  weeks  or 
$S  and  over  a  day.  The  losses  from  this  potential  wage,  due  to  fac- 
tory unemployment,  are  serious  enough  even  in  the  busiest  seas<m; 
in  the  slack  season  they  mean  in  many  cases  senous  deprivation. 

The  high-water  mark  of  earnings  is  probably  reached  by  the 
Brockton  stitchers  grouped  in  Table  34.  They  are  under  favorable 
circumstances  as  to  factory  management,  labor  organization,  and 
rates  of  pay;  yet  when  their  annual  earnings  are  distributed  through- 
out the  year  it  is  found  that  a  surprisingly  large  proportion  earn 
less  than  the  $9  a  week  which  has  been  estimated  as  essential  to  a 
working  wroman's  maintenance  in  Massachusetts. 

Tablf.  ?.4.  -CLASSIFIED   EARNINGS   FOR  STITCHERS  WORKING  46  WEEKS   OR   MORE 
IN  THE   YEAR  IN  BROCKTON. 

(Based  on  pay  roll.] 


Annual  eaniiiigs. 

Average  weekly  wage  for  52  weeks. 

Number 
earning 
specified 
amount. 

Per  cent. 

1.  Under  8500: 

S3o0  or  vmder 

Under  $9.60: 

$6.50  or  under 

2 
4 

13 
19 

27 

18 
11 
2 

16 

4.3 
8.6 
28.3 
41  3 

$400  or  under 

$450  or  under 

$8.50  or  under     . 

$500  or  under ...     . 

$9.60  or  under 

2.  $500  and  over: 

$500  and  over 

$9.60  and  over: 
$9.60  and  over 

58  7 

$550  and  over. 

$10  50  and  over 

39.1 

23.9 

4.3 

$600  and  over 

$1 1  .."^O  artd  nvflr 

S650  and  over $12.50  and  over 

T  0  tal j 

100  0 

02  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

The  earnings  of  this  group  are  not  reached  by  the  ordinary  skilled 
worker.  The  pay  rolls  show  that  the  women's  annual  earnings  mean 
less  than  $9  a  week  for  40  per  cent  of  the  "  steadies  ■'  in  Brockton,  for 
62  per  cent  in  Lynn,  and  for  75  per  cent  in  Marlboro. 

That  the  hours  and  days  of  unemployment  are  seldom  due  -to  volun- 
tary absence  is  sliown  by  comparing  the  pay-roll  cards  for  a  group 
of  workers  in  the  same  factory.  The  shortage  usually  occurs  either 
for  the  whole  group  or  for  so  large  a  part  of  it  as  to  make  it  evident 
that  the  cause  was  lack  of  Avork.  Each  pieceworker  learns  pretty 
accurately  the  number  of  pieces  she  can  handle  at  a  comfortable 
speed,  but  she  does  not  know  hoAv  many  pieces  she  will  be  assigned 
on  a  given  day,  while  she  is  equally  uncertain  as  to  the  number  of 
days  or  the  number  of  weeks  she  will  have  normal  work.  It  must 
be  kept  in  mind  that  this  is  a  fact  in  connection  Avith  steady  Avorkers, 
Avho  can  not  supplement  their  earnings,  yet  Avho  are  as  a  class  eco- 
nomically dependent  upon  them. 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  this  study  of  annual  earnings,  three 
points  stand  out  prominently  :  The  fluctuations  in  the  industry, 
which  debar  many  of  the  Avorkers  from  steady  employment;  factory 
unemployment,  or  temporary  lack  of  Avork  for  those  Avho  nominally 
are  steadily  emploj^ed;  and,  partly  as  a  consequence  of  these  periods 
of  involuntary  idleness,  the  Ioav  Aveekly  Avage,  aa  hen  earnings  are  dis- 
tributed OA*er  the  year,  even  of  steady  and  experienced  Avorkers.  The 
1,313  Avomen  Avhose  annual  earnings  are  shoAvn  in  Table  30  Avere 
adult,  experienced,  and  steady  Avorkers,  yet  three-fifths  of  them 
earned  less  than  $500  a  year  and  not  far  from  half  (1:6.2  per  cent) 
earned  only  $450  or  less,  and  $450  a  year  means  less  than  $9  a  Aveek. 
And  what  of  the  2,963,  or  more  than  tAvo-thirds  of  the  AVomen,  em- 
ployed in  shoemaking  who  are  not  steady  Avorkers?  Such  are  the 
significant  findings  of  this  investigation  as  to  Avomen's  earnings. 
That  these  earnings  exceed  on  the  Avhole  those  of  any  other  large 
body  of  factory  Avorkers  is  unquestioned.  It  is  no  less  a  fact  that 
not  even  in  the  least  expensive  locality  can  they  support  a  majority 
of  the  steady  workers  properly  and  healthfully. 


CHAPTER  VI.— SPECIAL  CONDITIONS  AFFECTING  THE 
EARNINGS  AND  EFFICIENCY  OF  WOMEN  WORKERS  IN 
SHOE  FACTORIES. 

Among  the  matters  that  make  up  the  complex  whole  of  an  indus- 
trial life  are  many  arising  from  social  and  economic  tendencies 
always  unfixed  and  obscure.  These  must  be  left  untouched  in  this 
incomplete  study,  nor,  in  fact,  can  any  impartial  investigator  fail  to 
admit  that  there  is  much  underlying  any  industrial  fact  that  no 
incjuirer  from  the  outside  can  hope  to  capture  and  analyze.  Yet 
certain  factors  are  too  obviously  related  to  women's  status  as  wage 
earners  to  be  ignored,  although  the  data  in  connection  w^ith  them  are 
limited.  These  are  the  questions  of  sex,  nationality,  schooling,  the 
employment  of  minors,  and  the  organization  of  labor.  The  present 
study  has  realized  the  import  of  these  factors,  though  unable  to 
measure  and  weigh  them  excej^t  in  a  limited  degree. 

SEX  AS  AFFECTING  EARNINGS. 

The  question  of  equal  rewards  for  equal  work  for  men  and  women 
has  already  been  settled  in  the  shoe  factories  by  the  method  of  piece 
payment.  Where  men  and  women  are  doing  the  same  work  they  are 
paid  at  the  same  rate.  But  it  is  only  in  exceptional  cases  that  they 
are  doing  the  same  work.  It  has  been  clearly  pointed  out  by  social 
economists  that  men  and  women,  even  when  working  under  the  same 
factory  roof,  are  usually  not  competitors  in  a  true  sense.  Women 
get  loAver  pay  than  men  for  various  reasons,  but  mainly  because  they 
are  doing  work  of  a  lower  grade.  In  the  shoe  industry  the  general 
rule  is  curried  out,  but  it  has  conspicuous  exceptions.  Women's  work 
is  mainly  in  the  stitching  and  packing  room.  It  requires  as  much 
manual  dexterity  as  that  of  the  men,  but  less  physical  strength,  and 
on  the  whole  less  mental  ability.  Therefore  the  whole  scale  of  wages 
for  women  is  lower  than  that  for  men.  This  is  clearly  shown  in  the 
following  table: 

93 


94 


BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


Table  35.— NUMBER  AND  PER  CENT  OF  MALE  AND  FEMALE  BOOT  AND  SHOE 
WORKERS,  AGED  18  OR  OVER,  EARNING  CLASSIFIED  AMOUNTS  IN  WEEK  ENDING 
DECEMBER  16,  1911. 

[Source:  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twenty-sixth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manu- 
factures, 1911,  p.  93.] 


Classified  weelcly  earnings. 

Males. 

Females. 

i 
Number.   1   Per  cent, 

1 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Under  $10                            .... 

10,326  1              19.5 
6,305  t              11.9 
10,853  !              20.5 
15,248  !              28.8 
6.821  j              12.9 
3.427  ,                6.5 

14,277 
5,159 
4,645 
2.386 
370 
38 

53  1 

$10  but  imder  $12 

19.2 

$12  but  under  $15 

17  3 

$15  but  under  $20 

8  9 

$20  but  under  $25 .                 .... 

1  4 

$25  and  over 

1 

Total..     .. 

52,980  f           100.0 

26,875 

100  0 

More  than  half  the  women  earned  under  $10 ;  very  nearly  half  the 
men  (48.1  per  cent)  earned  over  $15.  The  largest  single  group  of 
women  in  the  detailed  table  from  which  the  above  is  condensed  con- 
sists of  those  earning  $10  but  under  $12 ;  the  largest  single  group  of 
men  consists  of  those  earning  $15  but  under  $20.  Eelatively  this 
single  group  of  men  is  larger  than  the  combined  groups  of  women 
earning  $12  or  over. 

It  has  been  seen  in  Chapter  III  that  the  division  of  the  work 
between  the  sexes  is  in  some  processes  a  matter  of  habit  and  tradi- 
tion, now  beginning  to  be  disregarded  locally.  The  difficulty  of 
obtaining  enough  women  for  the  stitching  room,  together  w^th  the 
recent  availability  of  foreign  male  help  eager  to  do  Avork  that  re- 
quires little  physical  activity,  is  gradually  putting  men  at  the  sewing 
machines.  This  movement  has  made  less  headw^ay  in  Massachusetts 
than  in  other  States.  In  New  York  and  Brooklyn  large  numbers  of 
foreign-born  Jews  go  into  the  clothing  factories  to  learn  machine 
stitching  and  then,  as  experienced  stitchers,  readily  find  places  in 
shoe  shops.  American-born  or  Americanized  men  dislike  working 
in  the  "  women's  rooms,"  while  the  iVmerican  women  as  much  dislike 
working  in  the  men's  rooms.  Where  both  sexes  are  doing  the  actual 
processes  in  the  same  rooms  one  sex  is  generally  of  alien  origin.  In 
Massachusetts  factories  men  in  the  stitching  room  are  usually  Jews, 
Greeks,  Italians,  or  Armejjiians,  all  slender  and  agile  races.  The 
managers  do  not  always  introduce  them  willingly,  but  once  they  are 
in,  defend  their  presence  with  much  warmth.  Men,  they  claim,  can 
be  placed  closer  together  Avith  less  inconvenience,  will  do  more  work 
in  a  given  time,  and  may  be  legally  worked  more  than  54  hours  a 
week  at  rush  periods.  These  undoubted  advantages  will  naturally 
give  most  of  the  better-paid  places  to  men.  Whatever  the  degree  of 
skill  and  speed  a  woman  in  shoe  factories  may  gain,  she  can  not  hope 
for  earnings  that  measure  up  to  those  of  the  men  workers  of  the 
same  caliber. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE  IKDUSTRY  AS  A   VOCATION  FOR  WOMEN.  95 


The  character  of  a  local  population,  such  as  that  of  Chelsea,  made 
up  largely  of  foreign  families,  almost  forces  the  employment  of  men 
stitchers.  The  more  mature  Jewish  and  Italian  women  are,  as  a 
rule,  incompetent  for  stitching-room  w^ork,  even  if  willing. 

Table   36.— WAGES    OF   82   MEN   IN   A   STITCHING    ROOM    FOR    WEEK    OF   MAXIMUM 

EMPLOYMENT. 
[Based  on  pay  roll.) 


Number  and  per  cent  of 
workers. 

Workers  earning  specified  wage. 

Total 
number 

Under 
$6 

Under 

$8 

Under 

$9 

Under 
JIO 

Over 
$10 

Over 

$12 

Over 
$15 

Over 
$20 

of 
work- 
ers. 

1 
1.2 

5 

6.1 

10 
12.2 

10 
12.2 

72 

87.8 

58 
70.7 

30 
36.6 

7 
8.5 

82 

Per  cent             .      . .  .  ..... 

The  factory  from  which  these  data  were  taken  has  no  labor  union 
and  pays  comparatively  low  rates.  The  weekly  wage  for  women  is 
among  the  lowest  noted.  The  proportion  of  men,  however,  earning 
$10  and  over  in  the  maximum  week  is  almost  half  as  large  again 
as  that  of  any  group  of  women  wage  earners  in  the  districts  studied. 

A  comparison  of  average  w^ages  for  groups  of  skilled  machine  op- 
erators of  both  sexes  in  this  factory  is  given  in  Table  37. 


Table  37.— COMPARATIVE  WAGES  FOR  MEN  AND  WOMEN  WORKING  45  WEEKS  AND 
UNDER  ON  PIECEWORK  IN  A  STITCHING  ROOM  IN  CHELSEA. 

[Based  on  pay  roll.] 


Occupation, 


Backstayers 

Foxing  stitchers 
Top  stitchers.. - 
Vampers 


Number. 


Men.        Women. 


20 


Average  weekly  wage. 


Men. 


$8.64 
10.17 
9.38 
10.87 


Women. 


$8.13 
6.16 
8.61 
9.02 


NATIONALITY  AS  RELATED  TO  INDUSTRIAL  SUCCESS. 


At  first  view  it  appears  that  nationality  has  a  direct  relationship 
to  the  amount  of  earnings,  since  the  more  highly  paid  ocesses  are 
so  largely  done  by  native  women.  This  relationship  is  only  apparent. 
It  is  not  a  racial  w^ant  of  ability  that  keeps  foreign  women  out.  In 
the  first  place  they  are  relatively  few  in  number  in  Massachusetts 
shoemaking  towns.  Again,  some  factory  managers  claim  the  for- 
eign woman  immigrant  can  not  understand  or  read  the  directions 
given  to  the  stitchers.  Others,  but  these  are  in  low^-grade  factories, 
claim  that  reading  directions  is  not  a  necessity.  In  some  cases  where 
foreign  women  have  had  school  or  industrial  training  they  have 
proved  skillful  shoe  workers.    In  Lynn  a  number  of  Italian  women 


96  BULLETIN    OF  THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOE    STATISTICS. 

are  earning  high  wages  in  stitching  rooms.  In  Brockton  Swedish 
women  are  highly  vahied  as  stitchers  and  packers.  In  Marlboro 
French  Canadians  form  a  large  proportion  of  the  best-paid  workers. 
Foreign-born  women  and  girls  in  large  numbers  now^  perform  the 
simple  low-paid  processes  in  the  factories,  not  because  of  a  natural 
unfitness  for  skilled  work,  but  because  they  come  to  America  under 
the  pressure  of  an  economic  need.  They  are  untrained  and  they 
must  take  what  they  can  get  without  w^aiting  for  training.  The  for- 
eigners now  in  the  shoe  factories  probably  Avill  gain  skilled  positions 
as  they  gain  education.  In  fact  the  organs  of  various  factory  trades 
l)oint  with  warning  to  the  fact  that  foreign  girls  and  women  are 
usurping  the  place  of  Americans  in  the  more  skilled  factory  opera- 
tions. As  yet  this  tendenc}^,  as  we  have  seen,  has  not  greatly  affected 
the  shoe  factory  stitching  room.  It  still  remains  true  that  the  un- 
Americanized  foreign  woman  is  seldom  successful  in  the  skilled 
processes. 

EMPLOYMENT  OF  MINORS  AS  RELATED  TO  WOMEN'S  EARNINGS 
IN  SHOE   FACTORIES. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  the  fact  that  the  shoe  industry  depends 
very  slightly  on  the  labor  of  minors  has  been  repeatedly  emphasized. 
The  State  report  for  1911^  gives  7  per  cent  as  the  proportion  of 
"young  persons  under  18"  employed  in  shoe  factories  making  the 
complete  product.  It  is  probable  that  this  is  too  low  a,  figure.  The 
returns  made  by  employers  and  based  on  the  statements  or  misstate- 
ments of  the  children  themselves  often  err,  though  not  always  by  in- 
tention, in  regard  to  the  number  of  minor  employees.  In  this  inquiry 
it  was  found  that  the  proportion  of  minors  varied  greatly  with 
locality  and  with  the  nature  of  the  product.  The  restrictions  laid 
on  the  employment  of  minors  by  the  labor  unions  in  Brockton  partly 
account  for  the  large  number  who  do  not  go  to  work  until  they  are 
15  or  16  years  old.  Whether  the  additional  year  or  two  of  schooling 
makes  the  young  people  of  Brockton  more  efficient  as  workers  is  a 
vital  but  unanswered  question.  In  some  factories  no  minors  are 
employed ;  in  others  girls  only ;  in  a  f ew^  boys  only.  AVhere  both  boys 
and  girls  work  the  numbers  are  pretty  evenly  divided  betw^een  the 
sexes.  Local  differences  in  the  proportion  of  minors  are  shown  in 
the  case  of  two  large  factories.  In  one,  situated  in  the  Brockton 
region,  the  proportion  of  minors  reported  in  the  month  of  maximum 
employment  in  1910  was  3.3  per  cent;  the  other,  in  Marlboro,  a  non- 
union center,  reported  over  10  per  cent. 

Special  study  of  the  status  of  minors  was  made  in  the  course  of 
this  investigation  in  five  large  factories  where  girls  are  employed. 
Their  proportion  and  ages  are  shown  in  Table  38. 

'  Massachusetts  Enroan  of  Statistics,  Twonty-sixth  Annual  Report  on  tho  Statistics  of 
Manufactures,   1911,  p.   93. 


BOOT  AND  SHOE   INDUSTRY   AS   A   VOCATION    FOR   WOMEN. 


97 


Table  38— PROPORTION  OF  girl  minors  employed  in  five  large  shoe  fac- 
tories IN  MASSACHUSETTS  IN  1911. 


Locality. 

Female  employees. 

Total 
number. 

Girl  minors. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

Brockton  (2  factories).... 

Lynn  (2  factories) 

Marlboro  (1  factory) 

6G9 

1,404 

523 

74 
71 
93 

11.1 
5.1 
17.7 

These  figures  refer  to  the  total  number  at  work  during  the  year. 
The  proportion  found  at  any  one  time  is  much  smaller,  since  instabil- 
ity is  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  younger  workers.  In  the  Marl- 
boro factory  169  girls  and  boys  were  at  work  in  the  month  of  maxi- 
mum employment  in  1910-11,  and  but  54  in  the  minimum  month.  The 
minors  are  the  first  to  be  discharged  when  work  is  slack,  and  the 
readiest  to  be  dissatisfied  when  it  is  pressing.  They  stream  in  a 
continuous  current  in  and  out  of  the  factories. 

Girls  hold  their  positions  somewhat  longer  than  boys,  but  few 
minors  of  either  sex  work  46  weeks  or  more  in  the  year.  In  the 
factory  in  Marlboro,  where  labor  is  abundant  and  tenacious  of  its 
place,  23  per  cent  of  the  boys  and  26  per  cent  of  the  girls  were 
"  steady  "  workers,  as  against  41  per  cent  of  the  adult  women.  In  the 
Brockton  factory,  the  "  steadies "  made  20  per  cent  of  the  girls 
against  28  per  cent  of  the  women;  in  the  Whitman  factory  22  per 
cent  of  the  girls  and  but  9  per  cent  of  the  boys  worked  46  weeks  in 
the  year,  while  52  per  cent  of  the  adult  women  were  "  steady."  In 
Lynn,  out  of  35  boys  and  45  girls  in  a  factory  employing  nearly 
2,000  hands,  only  one  girl  and  not  a  single  boy  worked  more  than  44 
weeks,  and  few  more  than  30  weeks. 

As  to  age,  the  large  majority  of  the  girls  and  boys  in  the  shoe  fac- 
tories are  from  16  to  18  years  of  age.  Child  labor  is  practically  non- 
existent in  this  industry. 

The  work  done  by  both  boys  and  girls  is  almost  exclusively  hand- 
work, or  what  may  be  termed  footwork.  The  unskilled,  unpleasant 
and  dirty  work  at  tables  and  the  innumerable  odds  and  ends  and 
errands  are  assigned  to  the  minors.  Older  girls  in  the  packing  or 
stitching  room  often  work  side  by  side  with  adults  at  elementary 
tasks. 

As  the  industry  is  now  organized,  the  employment  of  minors  has 
little  effect  upon  the  number  or  earnings  of  skilled  women  working 
at  piece  rates.  Doubtess  it  does  displace  a  small  proportion  of 
needy  but  unskilled  adult  women.  Superintendents  in  the  shoe  fac- 
tories usually  affirm  that  capable  minors  have  a  good  chance  for  ad- 
3881°— Bull.  180—15 1 


98  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU   OF    LABOR    STATISTIOS. 

vancement.  This  seems  too  optimistic  a  statement,  certainly  so  far 
as  boys  are  concerned.  According  to  the  union  officials  there  is  now 
a  surplus  of  skilled  men  workers,  and  admission  to  their  ranks  is 
jealously  guarded.  Moreover,  in  the  rush  season,  foremen  and  fore- 
women dislike  to  be  bothered  with  awkward  workers,  while  in  a  dull 
season  the  experienced  hands  can  scarcely  be  kept  busy,  so  that  the 
would-be  learner  has  little  chance  at  either  season.  A  minor  deter- 
mined to  remain  in  the  shoe  industry  is  peculiarly  dependent  on  per- 
sistent effort  for  advancement. 

RELATION  OF  WOMEN  TO  LABOR  UNIONS. 

Labor  organization  among  shoe  workers  in  Massachusetts,  though 
even  now  far  from  complete,  is  a  time-honored  movement.  Its  his- 
tory belongs  to  other  branches  of  social  study;  we  are  concerned 
with  its  movements  only  in  the  direction  in  which  they  affect  the 
status  of  women.  The  four  localities  chosen  for  study  differ  widely 
in  respect  to  unionized  labor.  Brockton  and  Lynn,  though  very 
different  in  their  methods  of  organization,  are  strictly  union  centers ; 
Boston  and  its  outlying  suburbs  are  unorganized,  but  do  not  refuse 
members  of  unions;  Marlboro  will  employ  no  union  labor  whatever. 

Lynn  and  Brockton  union  officials,  on  whatever  points  they  dis- 
agrr^e,  unite  in  lamenting  the  difficulty  of  holding  women  to  a  reali- 
zation of  the  importance  of  organization  for  their  own  protection 
and  the  general  good  of  the  workers.  The  younger  or  low-paid 
workers  especially  grudge  the  weekly  dues,  while  the  mature  steady 
women  resent  the  expenditure  of  union  money  for  the  occasional 
association  recreation.  Few  women  comprehend  the  value  of  unions 
in  standardizing  wage  or  seek  to  utilize  them  in  securing  physical 
or  moral  sanitation  in  the  shops.  A  reason  frequently  assigned  by 
men  for  the  indifference  of  women  to  the  unions  is  that  they  do  not 
look  upon  shoemaking  as  a  life  work,  A  more  reluctantly  stated 
cause  is  the  social  degradation  assumed  to  follow  membership  in  a 
union.  This  reason  is  strong  in  Brockton,  possibly  because  women 
workers  there  are  as  a  class  socially  superior  to  the  men.  The  en- 
trance of  foreign  men,  mainly  Jews,  into  the  stitching  rooms,  and 
their  compulsory  membership  in  stitchers'  unions  has  increased  this 
feeling  which  prevails  especially  among  Americans. 

UNIONS    IN    BROCKTON    AND    ITS    VICINITY. 

In  the  southeastern  towns  of  Massachusetts  nearly  all  the  shoe 
workers  are  members  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union,  an  asso- 
ciation affiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  In  no 
factory  in  Brockton  and  in  few  situated  in  surrounding  towns  can  a 
nonunion  man  be  employed.  The  various  classes  of  oj^erators  are 
further  organized  into  groups,  as  the  Lasters'  Union,  the  Vampers', 
the  Cutters'  Union,  etc.    All  of  these  have  delegates  to  the  joint  coun- 


BOOT   AND   SHOE   INDUSTRY  AS  A  VOCATION   FOR   WOMEN.  99 

cil  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union,  whkh  has  a  contractual 
rehition  with  the  manufacturers  maintained  in  most  instances  for 
the  past  10  or  15  years.  The  unions  guarantee  that  there  wiU  be  no 
strikes,  the  manufacturers,  that  they  wiU  maintain  a  price  list  fixed 
after  joint  conference.  In  Brockton  the  higher  wage,  good  factory 
equipment,  and  permanence  of  business  concerns  are  no  doubt  largely 
due  to  the  intelligent  and  moderate  management  of  the  unions.  The 
fact  that  the  unions  have  to  deal  with  a  superior  class  of  manufac- 
turers, who  reside  among  and  respect  their  w^orking  force,  must  be 
given  a  large  place  in  the  accomplishment  of  these  results.  One  or 
tw^o  factories  have  stood  conspicuously  apart  in  their  refusal  to  em- 
ploy union  labor.  The  old  town  of  Bridgewater  had  one  of  these — 
now  discontinued ;  in  it  90  per  cent  of  the  w^orking  force  was  foreign 
born.  As  the  managers  made  a  point  of  teaching  processes,  many 
workers  W'ent  there  for  a  time  to  learn,  but  left  as  soon  as  the  proc- 
esses were  acquired  to  find  work  imder  better  conditions. 

Women  are  less  completely  organized  than  men,  though  in  Brock- 
ton the  Sti  tellers'  Union  No.  154  numbers  2,700  women.  Some  women 
belong  to  the  Dressers'  and  Packers'  Union  and  othei*s  to  the  Vamp- 
ers^  or  Skivers'  Unions.  Altogether  about  four-fifths  of  the  women 
in  the  Brockton  district  belong  to  unions.  Dues  for  all  members  are 
25  cents  a  week.  Those  who  have  been  members  for  6  months  are 
entitled  to  a  sick  benefit  of  $5  a  week  for  13  weeks,  and  for  mem- 
bers in  good  standing  for  2  years  there  is  a  death  benefit  of  $100. 
The  officials  of  the  chief  women's  unions  complain  of  the  lack  of 
interest  on  the  part  of  their  membei'ship  and  the  difficulty  of  securing 
quorums  for  the  fortnightly  business  meetings.  The  women's  unions 
do  nothing  in  the  way  of  social  recreation. 

UNIONS   IN    LYNN   AND    ITS    VICINITY. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  unified  labor  in  Brockton  and  its  stable 
relation  to  the  employers  are  the  chaotic  conditions  in  Lynn.  The 
midtiplication  of  labor  organizations,  their  discordant  views,  their  un- 
concerted  action  and  their  too  frequent  demands  for  alteration  in  labor 
conditions  are  assigned  by  many  of  the  employers  as  causes  of  their 
opposition  to  unions.  Within  a  dozen  yeai-s  several  large  firms 
have  removed  their  plants  to  nonunion  centers,  where  they  rigidly 
maintain  an  open  shop.  Such  a  removal  means  great  expense  to  the 
business,  not  only  in  the  cost  of  a  new  plant,  but  in  the  loss  incurred 
b}'^  settling  amid  a  population  untrained  to  shoemaking.  It  has  been 
said  that  three  generations  are  needed  to  make  a  shoe  worker.  This 
dictmn  bids  fair  to  be  disproved  in  its  limited  sense,  but  what  may 
not  be  true  of  the  individual  may  be  generally  true  of  a  community. 

Among  the  Lynn  shoe  w^orkers  there  are  18  labor  unions.  9  under 
the  United  Shoe  Workers  of  America,  2  under  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
5  locals  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union,  and  4  strong  inde- 


100  BULLETIN    OF  THE  BUREAU    OF   LABOE    STATISTICS,      • 

pendent  unions.  The  two  larger  unions  are  the  United  Shoe  Workeps 
of  America,  including  about  3,500  members,  and  the  Boot  and  Shoe 
Workers'  Union,  including  the  entire  force  of  three  factories,  amoimt- 
ing  to  between  500  and  600  workers.  The  agent  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe 
Workers'  Union  estimates  that  there  are,  in  the  stitching  rooms  at 
Lynn,  about  3,000  women,  one-third  of  whom  belong  to  some  union. 
The  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union  has  about  150  women  members. 
This  does  not  include  the  workers  who  work  only  during  the  rush 
time;  they  do  not  have  to  join  the  union  even  in  a  closed  shop,  but  if 
they  remain  longer  they  are  usually  approached  by  the  agent  or 
forewoman  and  asked  to  join.  It  is  claimed  by  the  agent  that  the 
women  do  not  take  very  much  interest  in  the  unions.  At  most  of 
the  meetings  there  are  not  more  than  7  to  20  women  present  out  of 
150  members. 

The  agent  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union  claims  that  four- 
fifths  of  all  the  men  employed  in  the  shoe  factories  in  Lynn  are  or- 
ganized in  unions  and  about  one-third  to  one-half  of  all  the  women. 
Over  2,000  women  are  members  of  the  United  Shoe  Workers  of 
America,  which  controls  eight  factories  in  which  the  whole  force  are 
members  and  three  others  in  which  90  per  cent,  including  the  women, 
are  members.  In  two  other  large  factories  most  of  the  men  are 
organized,  but  only  a  few  of  the  w^omen.  As  a  reason  the  secretary 
stated  that  in  one  of  these  factories  the  conditions  have  always  been 
better  than  the  average,  and  therefore  the  workers  have  not  banded 
together  for  protection. 

The  secretary  of  the  women's  branch  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Work- 
ers' Union  states  that  this  union  w^as  established  in  March,  1903,  and 
includes  all  the  women  workers  in  three  factories.  She  asserts  that 
the  women  are  interested  in  the  union ;  that  the  Americans  and  Irish 
take  the  most  interest,  and  that  few^  of  the  foreign  women  come  to  the 
meetings.  The  dues  are  25  cents  a  week,  and  for  members  in  good 
standing  there  is  a  sick  benefit  of  $5  a  w^eek  for  13  weeks  and  a 
death  benefit  of  $100.  Workers  over  60  years  of  age  are  not  admitted 
to  the  union.  The  rush  help  does  not  have  to  join,  nor  do  the  fore- 
women. The  regular  business  meeting  is  held  once  a  month,  and 
there  are  no  social  meetings.'  The  women  in  the  towns  surrounding 
Lynn  are  not  organized,  but  a  number  of  the  men  belong  to  unions 
as  individuals. 

Local  Union  No.  38  of  the  United  Shoe  Workers  includes  buttonhole 
operators,  finishers,  eyeleters,  and  buttoners.  The  first  meeting  was 
called  December,  1907.  The  secretary  states  that  24  women  workers 
met  and  organized,  receiving  hearty  support  from  the  Lasters'  Union. 
The  union  was  at  first  independent,  but  it  has  been  affiliated  with  the 
United  Shoe  Workers  of  America  for  the  past  three  years.  The  rea- 
son for  organizing  was  the  reduction  in  the  price  paid  the  women 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTRY  A&'A   YjOCAtlOlN;  ■:?dl={  ^^M^N.       1-01 

Avorking  (  n  the  buttonhole  machines,  a  change  due  to  the  displace- 
ment of  the  old  Singer  machine  by  the  Reese  buttonhole  machine, 
now  universally  installed.  The  increase  in  the  amount  of  work  done 
per  day  in  connection  with  the  new  machines  caused  manufacturers 
to  cut  prices  repeatedly,  until  the  w^omen  were  forced  to  a  protest. 
Fnd(rr  the  rates  now  fixed  by  agreement  with  the  unions,  as  much  can 
be  made  per  day  as  when  the  Singer  machines  were  used,  and  often 
more.  About  350  women  and  24  men  are  members  of  this  local  union ; 
only  20  workers  eligible  are  not  members.  The  secretary  states  that 
organization  has  done  more  for  buttonhole  operators  than  for  any 
other  class  of  workers  in  the  whole  shoe  industry,  and  for  this  reason 
the  union  members  are  very  enthusiastic.  She  asserts  that  the  manu- 
facturers have  been  square  in  their  dealings  and  have  cooperated  with 
union  officials  in  raising  rates,  which  both  sides  realized  were  too  low. 
So  far  as  she  knows  the  price  list  now  in  use  on  this  special  operation 
is  the  only  graded  price  list  of  any  shoe  workers'  union.  The  usual 
meetings  of  this  union  have  from  10  to  30  members  present;  a  meet- 
ing has  never  been  dismissed  for  lack  of  a  quorum.  The  United  Shoe 
AVorkers  pays  $100  death  benefit  to  the  members  of  any  of  the  local 
unions  under  its  organization  who  have  been  in  good  standing  for 
the  year.  There  is,  however,  no  sick  benefit  in  their  union,  though 
whenever  a  member  is  sick  fruit  is  sent  every  week.  If  a  member 
needs  financial  help,  a  whist  party  or  something  of  the  kind  is  held 
to  raise  funds.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  social  activity  in  the  union. 
About  once  a  month  they  have  a  dance  at  which  refreshments  are 
served  free.  Members  of  the  union  and  their  escorts  attend,  and  the 
executive  members  of  other  unions  are  invited.  Two  or  three  times 
a  year  the  union  has  a  public  dance  to  which  the  admission  charged 
is  25  cents.    At  these  they  frequently  clear  over  $100. 

An  independent  women's  organization  is  the  Buttonhole  Opera- 
tors' Union,  formed  a  few  years  ago.  Impetus  to  its  formation  was 
given  by  the  fact  that  there  are  in  Lynn  man}^  contract  rooms  in 
which  only  the  buttonhole  and  eyeleting  work  is  done,  and  their 
cheap  contracts  keep  down  the  prices  in  the  regular  shops.  The  sec- 
retary stated  that  before  the  union  was  formed  workers  could  not 
make  more  than  $7  or  $8  a  week,  since  the  prices  paid  Avere  only  3 
cents  to  3J  cents  per  100  holes.  When  the  union  was  organized  it 
raised  the  price  to  5  cents  per  100. 

In  Marlboro,  as  well  as  in  some  of  the  surrounding  small  shoe 
towns,  the  organization  of  labor  was  fairly  complete  before  the  year 
1898.  At  that  time  an  occasion  of  disagreement  arose  between  em- 
ployers and  employees  on  a  question  of  no  very  material  interest,  as 
is  now  conceded.  The  result,  however,  w^as  a  universal  strike  on  the 
part  of  the  local  working  force,  finally  broken  by  the  importation 
of  outside  workers,  many  of  whom  were  Greeks.    The  shoe  factories 


102 


BUJ^V.,^1^  ^f:  T5[j^  BUliEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


in  Marlboro  have  been  open  shops  since  that  date.  The  women  work- 
ers struck  with  the  men  at  that  time,  and  have  always,  in  Marlboro, 
been  largely  dependent  on  the  action  of  the  masculine  element  in  the 
shoe-working  force.  In  Boston,  Jamaica  Plain,  Chelsea,  and  other 
shoe  sections  near  Boston  there  are  no  union  shoj)s,  and  little  ejffec- 
tively  organized  labor.  Individuals  may  be  members  of  unions,  but 
the  factory  owners  recognize  and  treat  with  no  labor  organization. 

Table  39,  which  follows,  gives  the  condition  as  to  the  labor  organi- 
zation in  the  industiy  in  the  chief  localities  studied.  Labor  men  will 
point  to  the  fact  that  the  strongly  organized  centers,  such  as  Lynn 
and  Brockton,  show  the  highest  average  wage.  While  the  two  con- 
ditions have  doubtless  a  true  relation,  there  are  other  factors  which 
enter  into  the  making  up  of  the  annual  earnings;  among  them  are 
the  quality  of  the  product,  the  proportion  of  women  workers,  and 
the  fact  that  in  fixing  wages  in  any  locality  the  cost  of  living  must 
be  considered.  This  cost  in  Lynn  is  far  higher,  for  instance,  than 
in  Salem  or  Beverl3%  while  it  is  much  lower  in  Marlboro  than  in 
any  of  the  seaboard  shoe  towns.  The  low  wages  in  Boston  and 
Chelsea  are  partly  due  to  the  character  of  the  product,  and  the 
standards  of  living  among  the  unskilled  workers  largely  employed 
in  its  manufacture. 


Table  39.— AVERAGE  ANNUAL  EARNINGS  OF  ALL  WORKERS  IN  FOUR  CENTERS  IN 
MASSACHUSETTS,  AND  PER  CENT  OF  WOMEN  WAGE  EARNERS,  CHIEF  PRODUCT, 
AND  CONDITION  AS  TO  LABOR  UNIONS,  1910. 

[Source:  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Twentj'-fifth  Annual  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Manu- 
factures, 1910,  pp.  13-33,-42-49.] 


Locality. 

■ 
Average 

aimual 
earnings. 

Per  cent 

of 
women.  1 

Chief  product. 

Condition    as    to    labor 
organization  in  the  in- 
dustry. 

Group  I: 

Brockton 

$691 
679 
668 

26.7 
28.9 
28.1 

41.6 
40.7 
38.1 
38.9 
40.0 

40.5 
38.1 

32.2 
41.0 
18.1 
34.1 
33.1 

Men's  shoes 

Strong  central  union. 
Do. 

Weymouth 

do 

Rockland 

. .     .do 

Do. 

Women's  shoes 

Children's  and  infants'  shoes 

Women's  and  children's  shoes.. 

Women's  shoes  and  slippers 

Children's  and  infants'  shoes 

Women's  and  children's  shoes. . . 
Children's  shoes 

Group  a\^rage . . . 

687 

Group  II: 
Lvnn.. . 

«01 
527 
496 
476 
451 

Many  separate  imions. 

Dan  vers 

Salem 

Partly  organized. 

Beverly 

Mar  blehead 

Group  average... 

566 

Group  III: 

Boston 

532 
497 

No  organized  labor. 

Chelsea 

A  few  local  imions. 

Groupaveratje 

521 

Group  IV: 

Milford 

578 
575 
518 
514 
511 

Recently  organized. 
Practically  unorganized. 

Worcester 

Men's  and  women's  shoes 

Natick 

Marlboro 

Do. 

Hudson 

Men's,  women's  and  children's 
shoes. 

Do. 

Group  average . . . 

529 

1  nnm-nntAfJ 


CHAPTER  VIL— RETROSPECT  AND  PROSPECT. 

Among  the  features  most  prominent  in  connection  with  the  class  of 
women  with  which  we  have  been  dealing  is  their  hitherto  clearly 
defined  and  continuous  relation  to  the  industry.  Whether  this  long- 
established  connection  will  continue  permanent  is  now  a  question. 
Shoes  in  all  probability  will  be  stitched  so  long  as  shoes  are  made, 
and  women  will,  if  they  choose,  be  the  stitchers.  But  will  they 
choose  ?  A  few  years  ago  the  sewing  machii^e  was  supposed  no  more 
essential  in  the  factory  than  a  woman  to  run  it.  But  the  increasing 
immigration  to  New  England  of  Jewish  men  accustomed  for  genera- 
tions to  the  sewing  trades,  and  the  more  recent  arrival  of  slender  and 
light-handed  races  from  the  western  edges  of  Asia,  have  brought  new 
elements  into  the  factory.  The  invasion  has  not  been  rapid,  and  the 
more  skilled  and  remunerative  processes  still  remain  largely  in  the 
hands  of  Ajnerican  or  Americanized  workers.  Still  the  employment 
of  foreign  men  stitchers,  who,  when  they  displace  the  women,  are 
found  usurping  the  best  paying  occupations,  is  a  menace  to  women's 
historic  employment  as  shoe  stitchers.  Women  of  the  better  sort  dis- 
like the  forced  association  with  foreign  men,  and  should  the  latter 
increase  in  the  stitching  rooms,  the  difficulty  of  inducing  capable 
women  to  enter  the  factory  will  be  greatly  increased.  As  a  result, 
manufacturers  will  be  forced  to  discard  them  as  dependable  help. 
Some  factory  owners  anticipate  no  rapid  development  in  this  direc- 
tion ;  others  look  upon  it  as  near  and  inevitable.  Their  diverse  views 
are  doubtless  influenced  by  differing  local  conditions.  But  whether 
the  progress  of  innovation  be  slow  or  rapid,  it  is  cei-tain  that  women 
no  longer  have  exclusive  control  of  an  essential  part  of  shoemaking 
and  are,  in  consequence,  less  than  formerly  in  a  position  to  maintain 
or  improve  its  conditions. 

More  important,  perhaps,  to  those  who  consider  the  question  of 
wages  and  hours  the  most  significant  in  the  study  of  an  industrial 
class,  will  be  the  review  of  the  facts  presented  with  regard  to  the 
rewards  of  women's  labor.  Thirty  thousand  w^omen  in  the  month  of 
high  activity  and  from  forty  to  fifty  thousand  during  the  year  look 
to  the  shoe  factory  for  a  support,  either  partial  or  entire.  Whatever 
may  be  the  needs  or  motives  of  the  temporary  or  occasional  workers, 

103 


104  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

it  is  a  logical  conclusion,  confirmed  in  numerous  individual  instances 
by  the  assertions  of  the  women  themselves,  that  the  ten  to  twelve 
thousand  who  work  the  year  round  do  so  because  of  pressing  neces- 
sity. The  facts  disclosed  by  this  investigation  in  regard  to  the 
annual  income  of  this  class  can  not  fail  to  cause  grave  concern  Avhen 
it  is  considered  that  it  represents  the  high-water  mark  of  earnings 
for  factory  women.  Measured  by  a  scale  of  expenditure  frugally 
correspondent  to  their  standards,  the  income  of  those  wholly  de- 
pendent on  the  factory  varies  from  an  amount  bareh^  sufficient  to  one 
so  inadequate  that  the  earnings  must  be  considered  supplementary, 
not  sustaining.  Many  of  these  women  belong  to  family  groups  or 
have  husbands  who  are  also  w^age  earners.  In  such  instances  a 
woman's  earnings  will  usually  cover  only  her  share  of  the  joint 
family  expenditure. 

Is  there  any  prospect  of  a  change  in  the  present  status  resulting 
in  removal  of  the  conditions  chiefly  responsible  for  the  uncertainty 
and  inadequacy  of  earnings?  Radical  alteration  of  the  general 
situation  seems  unlikely,  but  important  modifications  of  some  of  its 
phases  have  been  suggested  as  possible  by  representatives  both  of 
capital  and  labor.  Among  the  modifications  suggested  is  the  estab- 
lishment of  small  plants,  a  movement  which  the  freedom  of  the  shoe 
industry  from  trust  combinations  renders  especially  practicable.  The 
small  concern  has  not  the  equipment  necessary  to  execute  large  orders, 
and  as  its  product  is  largely  made  on  the  stock  system  there  is  far  less 
fluctuation  in  the  numbers  employed.  As  to  large  factories,  it  is 
claimed  that  better  judgment  on  the  part  of  traveling  salesmen  who 
obtain  the  orders  and  more  intelligent  management  in  the  worla-ooms 
might  secure  a  less  uneven  distribution  throughout  the  year  of  the 
amount  of  work  anticipated,  and  thus  make  it  possible  to  increase  the 
total  output.  If  by  these  and  other  means  seasonal  fluctuation  were 
largely  modified,  there  would  be  marked  reduction  in  the  total  num- 
ber employed  in  the  year,  while  the  proportion  of  steady  workers 
would  be  somewhat  increased.  The  great  benefit  to  the  better  class 
would  be  the  lessening  of  the  variation  in  weekly  wage  due  to  factory 
unemployment  and  a  resulting  augmentation  of  the  total  earnings  for 
the  year;  but  even  were  there  little  or  no  increase  for  the  individual 
worker,  the  removal  of  a  pronounced  difference  in  the  amount  earned 
in  months  of  maximum  and  minimum  employment  would  be  an  in- 
calculable advantage.  To  discount  the  future  is  a  universal  human 
tendency,  and  the  woman  who  makes  $12  or  $15  a  week  in  January 
finds  one  of  the  problems  of  her  life  so  to  calculate  her  expenditure 
as  to  provide  for  the  scanty  earnings  of  May.  The  failure  to  make 
this  adjustment  is  a  main  cause  of  the  debt-harassed  condition  of 
many  of  the  skilled  workers. 


BOOT  AND   SHOE   INDUSTEY  AS  A   VOCATIOX   FOB  WOMEN.       105 

Another  result  of  the  reduction  of  seasonal  fluctuation  would  be 
the  lessening  in  the  number  of  seasonal  and  occasional  workers. 
This  must  undoubtedly  work  hardship  to  women  whose  husbands' 
earnings  fail  to  meet  legitimate  family  demands,  and  will  mean  dis- 
tinct deprivation  to  the  young  girls  who  work  a  few  weeks  or  months 
for  the  clothes  their  fathers  can  not  afford  to  buy.  The  men  of  the 
family,  its  natural  breadwinners,  will  feel  more  directly  the  burden 
of  its  support,  and  the  younger  women,  if  that  support  is  not  suffi- 
ciently ample,  will  desert  the  shoe  factory  for  employments  offering- 
a  lower  but  more  continuous  wage. 

Seen  in  the  broader  survey,  the  women  of  the  shoe  factories, 
wherever  they  are  centered,  show  characteristics  which  mark 
no  other  large  industrial  class  so  distinctively.  Whatever  may  be 
their  status  as  earners  or  their  social  position  in  their  com- 
munities, that  status  and  position  are  affected  by  no  age-long  heritage 
of  ignorance  or  grinding  toil,  by  no  limitations  of  opportunity  or 
restrictions  placed  upon  freedom  of  choice  in  locality  or  occupation. 
The  great  stream  of  immigration  from  central  and  southern  Europe 
(though  for  years  flowing  inward  from  the  port  of  Boston)  has  as 
yet  little  affected  the  character  of  the  shoe-working  women,  and  the 
nonnative  additions  to  their  numbers  have  been,  on  the  whole,  in  race 
and  tradition  kindred  to  the  New  England  stock.  In  their  ability 
and  intelligence,  in  their  relatively  high  earnings,  in  the  permanence 
of  their  relation  to  the  communities  of  which  they  form  a  part,  in  the 
uniformity  of  their  social  ideals  and  training,  the  Massachusetts  shoe 
worker  is  the  best  that  the  twentieth  century  has  produced  of  her 
type. 


INDEX. 

Beverly  shoe  factories:  Pago. 

Chief  product,  women  employed,  and  proportion  of  adult  women  working  46  weeks  or  more. .  85 

Maximum  and  minimum  employment,  month  of,  and  women  employed  in 81 

Women  workers,  instability  of 82 

Boston  as  a  shoe  center 29, 30 

Boston  shoe  factories: 

Chief  ])roduct,  women  employed,  and  proportion  of  adult  women  working  46  weeks  or  more. .  85 

Labor  unions,  relation  of  women  to 96-102 

Maximum  and  minimum  employment,  montl^  of,  and  women  employed  in &. 

Pay-roll  data,  factories  and  workers  for  which  secured 12 

Stitchers,  women,  nativity  of 29 

Women  workers,  instability  of 82 

Brockton  and  Plymouth  Coimty  shoe  towns 25-29 

Brockton  and  vicinity,  labor  unions  in ^ 98, 99 

Brockton  shoe  factories: 

Chief  product,  women  employed,  and  proportion  of  adult  women  working  46  -weeks  or  more. .  85 

Conjugal  condition  of  women  workers 28 

Hand  workers  and  machine  operators,  average  weekly  wages  of 07 

Labor  unions,  relation  of  women  to 98-102 

Maximum  and  minimum  employment,  months  of,  and  women  employed 81 

Minors,  girl,  proportion  of 9f 

Nativity  of  women  workers 26 

Pay-roll  data,  factories  and  workers  for  which  secured 12 

Residence  in  town,  length  of,  of  women  workers 2f 

Stitchers  working  46  weeks  or  more,  classified  earnings  of 91 

Wages,  actual  weekly,  of  women  18  years  of  age  and  over 64 

Women,  adult,  working  specified  number  of  weeks .- 88 

Women  workers,  instability  of S2 

Chelsea  shoe  factories: 

Chief  products,  women  employed,  and  proportion  of  adult  women  working  46  weeks  or  more.  85 

Hand  workers  and  machine  operators,  average  weekly  wages  of 6? 

Maximum  and  minimum  employment,  months  of,  and  women  employed 81 

Stitching  room,  comparative  wages  of  men  and  women  in 95 

Women  workers,  instability  of 82 

Conjugal  condition  of  women  shoe  workers,  Brockton 28 

Conjugal  condition  of  women  shoe  workers,  Lynn Sa 

Crippling,  operation  of,  variation  in  wages 72 

Cutting,  process  of,  in  shoemaking , 33, 34 

Division  of  work  bet^neen  men  and  women,  shoe  factories 40, 41 

Earnings: 

Annual,  average,  of  all  shoe  workers,  four  centers : IfflZ 

Annual,  classified,  of  adult  women  working  46  weeks  or  more 87 

Annual,  of  steady  workers 87-92 

Annual,  of  women  shoe  workers 75-92 

Boot  and  shoe  workers,  weekly,  by  sex 94 

Conditions  affecting 75-87 

Hand  workers 67, 71, 72, 87 

Machine  operators 67-71, 73, 83 

Manufactures,  statistics  of,  as  showing  Avages  and  earnings 69-63 

Minors,  emplovment  of,  as  related  to  women's  earnings 96-98 

Sex,  as  affecting 93-95 

Stitchers,  Brockton 91 

Varial  ion  of,  causes  of , .  .^ 71-74 

Women  18  years  of  age  and  over,  third  week  of  December,  1911 62 

Earnings.  {Scealso  Wages.) 

Efficiency  and  earnings  of  women  workers  in  shoe  factories,  special  conditions  affecting 93-102 

Employment,  maximum  and  minimum: 

Fluctuations  in  numbers,  shoe  factories 78 

Massachusetts  industries,  11  leading,  1911 76 

Months  of,  and  women  employed,  shoe  factories,  by  locality 81 

Stitchmg  room,  wages  of  82  men  in,  week  of  maximum  employment 95 

Einishing  department,  shoe  factories. 39, 10 

Handworkers: 

Earnings,  classified  aimual 87 

Earnings,  variation  of,  in  same  factory 71, 72 

Wages 65-67 

Heels  and  soles,  making  of 36,37 

Historv,  earlv,  of  shoe  industry,  Massachusetts 7-10 

Hours  of  labor 52,53 

Instability  of  wage  earners 81-87 

Labor  unions,  relation  of  women  shoe  workers  to 98-108 

Lasting-room  processes 37-39 

Living  conditions  of  women  shoe  workers,  Lynn 21-'& 

Lynn  and  the  North  Shore  shoe  towTis 14-26 

107 


108  INDEX. 

Lynn  shoe  factories:                                         .  Page. 

Chief  product,  women  employed,  and  proportion  of  adult  women  working  46  weeks  or  more . .  85 

Handworkers,  and  machine  operators,  weekly  wages  of 67 

Labor  unions,  relation  of  women  to 98-102 

Living  conditions  of  women  workers  in 22-25 

Married  women  in 19-22 

Maximum  and  minimum  employment,  months  of,  and  women  employed 81 

Minors,  girl  proportion  of 97 

Nativity  of  women  v/age  earners  in 18 

Pay-roll  data,  factories  and  workers  for  which  secured 12 

Piece  rates  and  pieces  handled  to  make  $10  per  week 69 

Residence  in  town,  length  of,  of  women  workers 19 

Unemployment  of  23  time  workers,  days  lost  by,  by  occupation 90 

Women,  adult,  working  specified  number  of  weeks 88 

Women  18  years  of  age  and  over,  actual  weekly  wages  of 63 

Women  v/orkers  in 17-19 

Women  workers,  instability  of 82 

Machine  operators: 

Earnings,  classified  annual 87 

Earnings,  variations  of 73 

Unemployment,  days  lost  by ." 91 

Wages 67-71 

Manufactures,  statistics  of,  as  shov/ing  v.  ages  and  earnings 59-63 

Marlboro  and  Middlesex  County  shoe  towns 30, 31 

Marlboro  shoe  factories: 

Chief  product,  v/omen  employed,  and  proportion  of  adult  women  working  46  weeks  or  more. .  85 

Ilandworkors  and  machine  operators,  weekly  wages  of 67 

Labor  unions,  relation  of  v/omen  to 98-102 

Maximum  and  minimum  emi)loyment,  months  of,  and  women  employed 81 

Minors,  girl,  proportion  of 97 

Pay-roll  data,  factories  and  workers  for  which  secured 12 

Women,  adult,  w^orking  specified  number  of  weeks 88 

Women  18  years  of  age  and  over,  actual  weekly  wages  of 04 

Women  workers,  instability  of 82 

Martial  condition.    (See  Conjugal  condition.) 

Massachusetts  industries,  chief,  compai'ison  of,  as  to  persons  employed  and  wages 59, 60 

Massachusetts  industries,  11  leading,  maximum  and  minimum  nurciber  of  wage  earners 76 

Methods  emploj-ed  in  present  inquiry 5-13 

Methods  of  learning  the  shoemaking  trade 42-52 

Methods  of  payment,  classification  of,  and  of  shoe  workers 64, 65 

Minors,  employment  of,  as  related  to  women's  earnings 96-98 

Minors,  girl,  proportion  of,  in  five  large  shoe  factories 97 

Minors,  men,  and  women  employed  and  wages  in  chief  industries,  Massachusetts,  comparison  of..  59,  €0 

Nationality  as  related  to  industrial  success 95, 93 

Nativity  of  women  shoe  stitchers,  Boston '  29 

Nativity  of  women  shoe  workers,  Brockton 26 

Nativity  of  women  wage  earners,  three  factories,  Ljmn 18 

Occupations.    (See  Processes,  in  shoemaking.) 

Packmg  department!  shoe  factories 40 

Pay-roll  data,  factories  and  workers  for  which  secured 12 

Pay  rolls,  wages  as  soown  by 63, 64 

Piece  prices  paid  on  difterent  grades  of  shoes,  same  factory 69 

Piece  rates,  and  piecesMianjiled  to  make  $10  per  week,  Lynn 69 

Piece  rates,  prevafiing.\w<^ 68 

Processes,  in  shoemaking: 

List  of,  in  which  women  are  employed 41, 42 

Prices  paid  for  each  of  specified 68, 69 

Technical,  description  of 32-42 

Time  required  to  leani,  by  women 50 

Trade-school  instruction,  fees,  etc ■46 

Purpose  and  methods  of  present  study » 5-13 

Residence  in  tov.n,  length  of,  of  women  shoe  workers 19, 27 

Sanitation  and  working  conditions 53-57 

Seasonal  fluctuation  i  n  numbers  employed 75-81 

Sex,  as  affecting  earnings 93-95 

Shoe  factories,  Massachusetts: 

Chief  ])rod.uct,  women  employed,  and  proportion  working  46  weeks  or  more 85 

Division  of  work  in,  between  men  andT  women 40, 41 

Learning  the  trade  in 47-52 

Maximum  and  minimum  employment,  fluctuation  in  numbers 76 

Processes  or  operations  follov  ed 32-42 

Wage  earners,  employed  each  month,  October,  1910,  to  September,  1911 78 

Women  in 10, 11 

Women  in,  wages  of 58-74 

Women  workers,  earnings  and  efficiency  of,  special  conditions  affecting 93-102 

Women's  work  in,  nature  and  condition  of 32-57 

Shoemaking  industry: 

Beginning  and  growth  of,  Massachusetts 7-10 

Extent  of 0 

Shoe  centers  and  the  shoe  workers,  Massachusetts 14-31 

Shoe  to^\'ns,  distribution  of,  Massachusetts 6,7 

Trade,  methods  of  learning 42-52 

Wage  earners  of  each  sex  in 10, 11 

Soles  and  heels,  making  of Sd,  37 

Steady  workers,  annual  earnings  of 87-92 

Stitchers,  classified  earnings  of,  Brockton 9 

Stitchers,  men,  wages  of,  for  week  of  maximum  employment 15 

Stitching,  process  of,  in  shoemaking 34-36 

Stitchingroom,  comparative  wages  of  men  and  women  in,  Chelsea  shoe  factories 95 


INDEX.  109 

Pagfe. 

Technical  processes^  description  of ....,...., 32-42 

Trade  school,  learning  shoemaking  trade  in .  43-46 

Turning,  operation  of,  variation  in  wages  of  hand  workers ,  71 

Unemployment,  days  lost  by,  skilled  machine  operators . .  91 

Unemployment,  days  lost  by,  23  time  workers,  by  occupation,  Lynn 90 

Wages  and  number  of  persons  employed,  comparison  of,  chief  industries,  Massachusetts 50,60 

Wages  of  women  18  years  of  age  and  over,  II  leading  industries,  1910 61 

Wages  of  women  shoe  workers — 58-74 

Actual  weekly,  week  of  greatest  employment 63, 64 

Hand  workers 65-67 

Machine  operators 67-71 

Sources  of  mformation 58,59 

Variations,  causes  of ......... . .  71-74 

Wages,  as  shown  by  payrolls .'  03,64 

Wages,  as  shown  by  returns  of  manufacturers 59-63 

Workers  and  methods  of  payment,  classification  of 64,65. 

Wages.    {See  also  Earnings.) 

Work  in  shoe  factories,  division  of,  between  men  and  women 40, 41 

Working  conditions  and  sanitation 53-57 

O 


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